Hide and Seek
by olirulz111
Summary: The sequel to Thieves out of Everyone. Everyone tries to keep things hidden, can Sly keep his family hidden from the police as the past inevitably catches up to him? Rated T for violence and mature themes. Reviews are appreciated.
1. Prologue

**Prologue – The 6 o'clock news**

**3 Weeks after Sly's announcement. 6:02pm, 22****nd**** August 2013. **

"Now onto the developing story here, the new interim head of Interpol has restored a task force not seen since the Second World War. This is in response to the theft of the Mona Lisa, arguably the world's most famous and valuable painting, from the Louvre museum in Paris. Having been spotted as a fake by a member of the public with the signature 'D Lousteau', the same reality TV star and art forger that was found dead in a canal outside of Rotterdam. This will be Interpol's first major task since the conviction of their previous director for misuse of state funds. They suspect Sly Cooper, the same thief who, in a world wide breach of telecommunications brazenly announced his retirement from thieving, has stolen the painting."

"To explain this new plan we are joined with Interim Chief Barkley from Lyon to our London studio via a video link. Good evening Chief Barkley."

"Good evening Liam." Replies Barkley. Barkley is has aged a bit, now in his late fifties, his tan fur has become wiry despite what appears to be the best attempts to soften it.

"Of course the world is completely devastated by such a high profile theft, can you tell us how a World War 2 era program is going to be of such use in 2013?"

"First of all, we have no evidence to suggest it is Sly Cooper that has the painting at the moment or even stole it in the first place, we don't have any CCTV, no fingerprints, and no one even saw him steal it or leave with the painting. This makes it impossible for us to convict him even if we managed to catch him, which is a problem in itself. This is no means a feeble publicity stunt, unlike my predecessor, this unit will be brought into the 21st century and begin to search for it's location." He replies calmly to the anchorman.

"So you know he has done it but you can't prove it?" Liam asks for clarification for his viewers and himself.

"Precisely." Barkley replies without hesitation.

"Do you know anything about it? Why, how, even where he might be right now?"

"To any of those questions, I can't tell you. Not because I'm keeping things a secret but because we truly don't know anything, it is the worlds best thief creating the worlds best heist so we'd have our hands full from the start." Barkley chuckles to himself as he readjusts his seating position. "But eventually we will find something, he can't stay hidden forever."

"Onto the subject of Carmelita Fox…" He starts in his English accent.

"No questions on her, please." Barkley insists, the fact that she has defected and that he personally had given her the opportunity in that night at the opera to kick-start her crime fighting career makes this a personal betrayal to him.

"Finally, can we trust what Sly said on that announcement?"

"We can only speculate, but judging this is such a high profile theft he would have to lay low anyway, it is his 'pièce de résistance' one could say. I don't think we will be hearing about him anytime soon."

**Olirulz111 presents…**

**An Olirulz111 Fanfiction…**

**The sequel to Thieves out of Everyone**

"**Hide and Seek"**


	2. Inheritance

**Chapter 1 – Inheritance**

**8 Years 248 days later. 27****th**** April 2022, 6:57am. **

**Rural Southern Sweden.**

"Should we get up now?" Alex Cooper asks upwards, facing the mattress of the bed above that sags towards the wooden slats that go with the wooden everything of this log cabin. The freezing air around them kept them hidden under piles of blankets each.

"2 minutes 34 seconds." Replies his older sister Erin as she checks her watch, older by 6 minutes. They are not identical, they are fraternal. Two different eggs and two different sperm have both produced two different children, different in almost everyway.

Alex has grown accustomed over the years of listening to the stories that Sly has fed him, of great heists and amazing trips that are beyond belief to anyone else. Time travel, mechanical beasts that hunt you and your family for thousands of years. They are the stuff of fantasy and legend, and yet they are real. He knows every single tree that surrounds this cabin, he has been up and down their branches thousands of times, and putting into practice everything that Sly has taught him. His dark grey fur is a stark contrast to the tan fur of Erin.

Erin meanwhile doesn't buy into all of these stories and legends that she has inherited unwillingly. She would rather be somewhere else than in this isolated piece of forest. Just in the city, any city. Just some form of civilisation would be what she hopes for today. For today is their most important day so far of their short lives.

Their 8th Birthday.

"Okay." She whispers down as she checks the bottom bunk to find the sheets and blankets drawn back with no raccoon inside.

"When will he learn?" She asks herself, as she gets dressed slowly into a dark green shirt and dark green jumper with dark green tracksuit pants, all for camouflage purposes from Carmelita's request to keep her children safe should they venture into the wilderness. She walks slowly out of their shared bedroom and into the living area which, in the far right hand corner, has a table with 4 chairs and some basic items, a refrigerator, a stove with oven and some benchtops. To the right hand side is the small wooden door that leads to the world. There is a couch with a TV although no reception. There isn't any connection to the outside world here, no mobile phones, no internet, no TV reception; only a secure landline leading only to one address and a CB radio for them to communicate locally; that is the price of remaining hidden. But something that really ties the room together is a small painting hanging on the empty wall near the TV, only about 30cm by 40cm, it depicts a woman with her hands crossed standing in front of a detailed landscape. The Mona Lisa.

"Get up! Get up!" She can hear Alex shout in her parent's bedroom, she walks in slowly and sees Alex jumping on the bed and her parents waking up slowly as they see their son jump up and down on the bed to rouse them from their slumber.

"Happy Birthday Alex." Sly says as she gives him a kiss on the cheek, as which point he spots Erin. "And Happy Birthday to you Erin." Age has not wearied Sly Cooper. He looks as thin and as fit as ever, although he is not in the same physical shape as he was in his prime, he has not neglected himself.

"Where are the presents?" Alex asks immediately. Erin can only watch her brother beg for them while she leans against the wall inside their bedroom.

"They'll be here soon." Sly replies back as he checks the time on his bedside table clock.

"You mean they're not here?" Alex says in frustration, he doesn't want to wait even a few more seconds for these very special presents.

Outside they can hear a rumble and then a splash on the lake that borders the cabin, it's quite a nice view when the sun is setting with the orange rays glistening off the still water or even the ice in the winter. Sly knows what this is, he has been looking forward to this time as well.

"That's them." Sly says as he gets out of bed. "You two get out of here while I get changed, okay." Sly gleefully says to his children as they scuttle out of the room.

Alex runs up to the window and stands on his toes to look outside, he sees a sea plane moving towards them, disturbing the perfectly flat water and the quiet morning.

"It's a plane!" Alex exclaims to Erin in excitement, Erin doesn't share the same feeling as Alex as she stands near the wall away from the door.

"Couldn't you hear it?" Erin replies.

"Don't act so smart." Alex replies back. It's true that Erin has matured in personality much earlier than Alex, the same goes with her intelligence. While she may not have had access to schools or online learning, she does have some books that have been delivered by the same person that has arrived right now. They are some of her most treasured possessions; she knows every page like the back of her hand.

Outside, the plane has stopped near the shore of their cabin and ties it up to an old wooden pier. Alex is desperate to run outside and get to his presents but he has been told time and time again to not just go running around outside, it might give away their position. The sliding side door of the seaplane opens up and a ramp is extended out to bridge the gap. A turtle in a wheelchair, just a plain one, is the first one out of the plane.

"Do you want some help?" Bentley asks into the plane where he can hear the sound of metal cases being moved around.

"Nah, I've got it pal." Murray says as he walks out with all of the cases in one go. He stops to re-arrange them into a neat pile for easier carrying then they both go together up the small grassy slope to the cabin. Alex can only watch as they get closer, full of eagerness and anticipation.

"Uncle Bentley and Uncle Murray are here!" Alex shouts as Sly and Carmelita walk out of their room. Erin moves towards the door from her position on the wall. She courteously opens the door for them as Bentley wheels his way inside the cabin. Bentley hasn't changed at all in the past 9 years. He still tinkers away in his secret underground lab with Penelope, although they are not in a relationship and haven't been for quite some time. They are just lab partners, building and experimenting their way to the top. Murray on the other hand has had anything but a steady lifestyle. He has gone from career to career and from strength to strength. Going back to his wrestling career where he finally won that title he walked out of. Then he became a Hollywood stunt driver, a food critic, a chef, a demolitions consultant (where he only did it to see giant buildings come crashing down) and now he is into his current job as a flying instructor.

"Thanks Erin." Bentley says as he wheels his chair into the smooth wooden floorboards. His technologically superior chair is in his lab as he can't risk taking such a connected and high tech device to this location. He doesn't want to take unnecessary risks that could jeopardise his best friend's family's survival. Murray side steps into the door to fit inside whilst holding the presents, some of which are large and some are short. All of them are in bulletproof, waterproof and airtight boxes to protect their contents.

"Happy Birthday kids." Murray shouts as he picks up Alex with one arm to hug him. Erin doesn't like being crushed to within an inch of her life, she has outgrown that aspect as well. He puts down the presents carefully with the assistance of Alex to sort them out. Alex frantically tries to find his presents and looks for the labels marked with his name and separates them into groups of his and Erin's.

"Can I open them?" Alex asks to his dad, ready for his hands to get to work unwrapping the wrapping paper.

"Not until you say the magic word." Carmelita buts in.

"Pleeeeeeeeeease?" Alex says. Sly gives the nod and he just dives into tearing the plain black wrapping paper, stripping the paper from the black metal cases. Erin on the other hand, methodically unwraps the paper where the tape secures it, leaving a single untorn sheet. This first box that Alex and Erin have opened is the biggest, a long and thin box about 1.2 metres long and 30 centimetres wide and deep. It is secured with 2, 4 digit numerical tumblers. Alex presses his ear against the casing and tries to hear the clicks of the lock as he adjusts the tumblers. Erin meanwhile looks at these two locks and puts in a code without listening for clicks or knowing it beforehand.

"2-5-3-9 and 3-7-4-6" Erin says as she turns the number to match.

"You're just being smart, watch how the mast…" Alex starts but he hears her case open.

"Just a lucky guess." Alex says back. "What was the code again?"

"2-5-3-9 and 3-7-4-6, A-L-E-X and E-R-I-N." Erin replies back, the adults among them are stunned. As Erin says the letters, the adults among this group except for Bentley become overwhelmingly proud of her.

"She's good." Bentley whispers to Sly. Sly just feels the same happiness for her as he does for Alex. Erin sees the inside of the casing and finds, resting in a custom made foam casing, a carbon fibre cane, not exactly what she was hoping for. Alex frantically turns the tumblers and reveals a wooden cane with a golden head and tip, Sly's old cane.

"Cool!" Alex says as he grabs it out, the cane is about as tall has he is.

"You be careful with that Alex, that was your fathers and his fathers too." Bentley warns.

"Is it true?" Alex asks his dad.

"That was a long time ago." Sly says, becoming a little bit nostalgic.

"Did you, beat bad guys with it, hang from cables 30 stories above the street with it and lift out treasures with it?" Alex asks, in awe of this holy cane.

"Certainly did." Sly says. Carmelita isn't that impressed with this remark.

Erin just looks at her cane without saying a word.

"How come yours is black and mines made from wood?" Alex asks as he turns his head to look at his sisters present. She takes it out of the lining and feels it.

"Do you like it?" Carmelita asks.

"I… It's great, thank you." She says to Bentley and Sly. She doesn't know what to make of this gift. Being a thief wasn't exactly what she dreamed of, even in this legendary family of thieves. She doesn't know what she wants to do exactly; thieving is still on the cards for her. She puts the cane into the case and locks it back up and moves onto the next present. As she does this, Alex does the same. This smaller case has one tumbler this time but instead it has 8 digits. Alex continues his same tactics, moving faster and quicker than before to beat his sister. Erin just casually unlocks the case.

"You need a better passcode." She say to Bentley as she opens up the case to reveal a leather bound book; The Thievius Raccoonus. Alex turns his head and sees what is inside.

"Is that real?" Alex asks. "Is it…?"

"Stop your blabbering, of course it's real." Erin casually replies to him as she carefully lifts it out of its protective foam covering. She feels a sense of awe due to the sheer importance of it's existence to the Coopers and their history and success. Now that it is in her hands makes her feel like she has the weight of 3300 years of past thieves and their legacies on her narrow shoulders. It's not the fact that she is a girl that makes her worried about it, there have been many famous female Coopers; Henriette, Karin, Sally, Suzanne. It's that while she is fine having the Cooper name, she doesn't particularly want to feel forced down this path as if it's her only choice, even if she thinks privately that Alex is inferior to her in almost every way and would be a let down. Erin gets up and puts the book back in it's casing and carries both cases into her room where she can be alone to think this through. The adults don't try to stop her, even if they have their own reservations.

"Hey, can you give me the code?" Alex asks as she moves past him.

"I'll let you figure this one out." She says as she shuts the door on everyone. She takes a deep breath to calm herself down.

Outside, they all become confused.

"I should go talk to her." Sly says as he steps forward.

"No, she needs her space." Carmelita interjects.

"She needs someone to explain all of this to her, and I'm the only one who can do that." Sly explains.

"Just give it 15 minutes, once that's done you can help her once she's calmed down." Carmelita rationalises.

Meanwhile on the ground, Alex thinks he's onto a winner here as he finishes the lock combination and tries to open it but the lock doesn't budge. He is disappointed with himself but endeavours to continue on, with everyone looking on. They can see how badly he is doing without admitting it to him.

"You want some help?" Murray asks. He walks over to the case and gets down onto his knees and proceeds to conquer it with brute force. His muscles tense but they can't make it budge; he should know better, Bentley made these cases.

"Sorry, I got nothing." Murray says as he returns back to the group of adults. Alex looks back at them as if to ask for more help but he realises that with every passing second they think he is inept and unable to beat this lock, privately of course.

"Uncle Bentley, can you open it, Please?" Alex asks, in doing this he has given in. Bentley looks at Sly to get permission and receives a nod and so goes forth and out of his chair and onto the ground where he flips the tumbler to read 7-3-5-3-5-6-7-3, which causes the lock to unlock and the case to open. He looks inside and he sees a leather cover but when he opens the pages they are just photocopies of the real thing.

"How come she gets the real book?" Alex asks in frustration.

"You each get one real thing and the other is a copy, it's fairer this way." Bentley answers as he climbs back into his chair.

"But she got the book, that's not fair." Alex says.

"You're saying that to a paraplegic." Bentley replies back. Alex is confused, he doesn't know this word. "It means you can't use your legs."

Meanwhile in the privacy of the bedroom, Erin turns on the lights and skims through the Thievius Raccoonus, to see what is inside that has her brother worked up so much about this legacy. She finds written descriptions and pictures of her ancestors, but what she is interested in is the adventures of Sly, her father. More to find out about what he did since he never really discussed many things in detail; perhaps he was saving it for when they were older. Anyway, she starts at the bottom. She reads about Sly being untimely ripped away from his away by the Fiendish Five. About Clockwerk and how he defeated him with the help of a Ms. Fox. She is surprised that her mother was involved in many of his major heists, a fact she never brought up. She reads about the Klaww gang and the revival of Clockwerk, about the Caine Island job, about the trips through time and space to save the world. She thinks that last part is going a bit too far, she has great respect for her father but doesn't think he is a superhero, saving the world like in a cartoon. She makes a mental note to remind herself to ask him about that later. She becomes intrigued with the last few entries, about being hunted by Penelope who was employed by the Director of Interpol to hunt him down. Finally she comes to what is perhaps the most important entry relating to her.

_6__th__ September 2013_

'_Making plans for the hide out, I can't use any of my existing ones, Bentley fears they may have been compromised. Luckily, He let me choose where I want to go to, and I chose Sweden. Why? Because the flag is blue and yellow and it is a place that won't likely be on the radar for Interpol to search.' _

_7__th__ September 2013 _

'_Bentley has found a place to stay, an old log cabin next to a lake, somewhere that is free from the outside world. Bentley says we can't leave yet until he has made some modifications, I hope it includes instructions on how to raise kids. I don't know how long this is going to take or how long I will have to stay there but all I know now is that I can't steal again. The heat attached to this theft will outlive me. In any case, this will be my last entry before it is placed in Bentley's lab for safekeeping. I can't risk having it unsecured in the wilderness. So to my __child__ children who __is__ will eventually read this, that's all I have, it's your turn.'_

Erin closes the book and look across to the cane and thinks about all it represents. But that thought is broken by a knock on the door. It opens and Sly walks inside and sits down on the floor cross-legged at her level.

"I know thieving is not exactly what you want to do, you don't have to keep it from me. I won't force you to be a thief if you don't want to." Sly says. He thinks they are reassuring words but they don't change the confused and worried look on her face. They sit in silence, Sly exercises what patience he has in order to let her lead this conversation.

"Is Alex really fit to succeed you?" Erin asks, out of everything Sly was preparing for, this was not one of them, nor is it one that he can readily answer willingly.

"You're both equally good." Sly replies back. Erin doesn't buy it, considering what has happened before.

"I know you are lying." Erin says. It's not the fact that Sly wasn't expecting that response; he is not that naïve. But he doesn't want to continue.

"When you're a parent one day, you'll understand." Sly says.

"Alex! Get down from there." She says as she turns around to see the hands of Alex holding onto the ledge of the window outside, trying to listen in on this conversation. She see his bare hands disappear from sight.

"I just feel guilty when I see Alex and that he is going to soil the reputation of the Cooper name. That I'm not helping out at all and just squandering it." Erin explains to Sly.

"But you don't want to feel forced into being a thief." Sly says, completing her thoughts.

"Yeah." Erin replies.

"Well, why don't you want to become a thief?" Sly asks, trying to find a reason.

"Because I just don't think that stealing from others is a viable career choice for me, I'm not a risk averse, over confident criminal brimming with swagger. I'm just me, just another raccoon." Erin says, figuring it out for herself.

"You're just 8 years old, I wouldn't expect myself to make that choice at your age." Sly explains.

"But everyone wanted to be a thief straight away, I'm going to be such a let down." Erin says.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. That's no way to talk." Sly says to calm down the situation. He takes a breath and tries to recall those unwanted memories back of when he was 8.

"I had my own doubts at you age." Sly begins.

"You're just saying that to make me feel better." Erin replies, trying to shut down this expected tactic.

"It's true, It's in the book. Let me tell you this, when I was sitting on my fathers lap listening to his stories of thievery, I was overwhelmed with it all. I never thought I could be that good either." Sly says.

"But you knew that you were a thief, right?" Erin says, butting in to try to get some sort of superiority in this conversation.

"I didn't know what I was going to be until that day." There is a brief pause as Sly sees all those suppressed images come back to life briefly, the muffled cries of his mother, the horrific blows dealt by those outside the closet and the final shouts of his father until the air was taken from him. Erin can see him go through this.

"I'm sorry." Erin says. This snaps Sly out of it.

"What? Don't be sorry. Anyway, fate had other ideas and look where I am now and what I have done, I think it turned out ok." Sly explains. "The point is that you know who you are when the time comes, your future is not solidified in concrete today, nor will it be any other day." Sly reassures Erin. She takes it in and in the end is thankful for it.

"Thanks." She replies.

"Anytime." Sly says as he gets back up and leaves the room. Erin puts all the things back in their cases and follows Sly out of the bedroom in time to say goodbye to Bentley and Murray. Sly walks back and joins the rest of the group outside with Alex standing next to Carmelita, more for support after what he has or, more appropriately, what he hasn't done. Murray already has the door open ready to step outside into the morning light.

"See you guys!" He says as he walks out, but Bentley stops for a bigger goodbye. Sly bends down and gives him a hug; their friendship is still a strong as ever.

"You'll hear from me when I give you the next updates on your situation." Bentley whispers.

"See you kids, Carmelita." He says as he wheels his way out of the door and controls his descent down the small grassy slope to the pier and he gets in the plane with Murray already having started up the engine. They watch the plane turn around and fly out of the lake and out of sight.


	3. The 8th Birthday Curse

**Chapter 2 – The 8****th**** Birthday Curse**

_**Later that night **_

**27****th**** April 2022 10:21pm**

The rest of the day was just a normal family party, they had cake, and they played music and watched a DVD together. But now the kids are mulling over the days proceedings.

"What'd he tell you?" Alex asks, up to the top bunk.

"It's confidential." She replies like a smart ass.

"Stop using big words." Alex replies. It gives her a small amount of pleasure knowing that she has complete mental superiority over her brother. She has the Thievius Raccoonus with her and a mechanical pencil in her hand, ready to make her first mark on Cooper history but unable to deface a blank page with her ramblings. But something illuminates this page that is not moonlight. She has no time to think and yet knows exactly what it is. She thrusts herself against the wall.

"Get back!" She shouts to Alex who reacts just as she told her. The laser beam goes away but they are scared. Sly has taught them of the dangers that could get them, snipers are just one of a multitude of things they have plans for.

"You get under the bed, I'm getting dad." Erin says calmly despite feeling petrified on the inside. She takes the Thievius Raccoonus with her and stays as low as possible until she reaches the door of her parent's bedroom. She reaches up with one arm to open the door. When she does this, Sly looks as if to emerge from a nightmare. He goes form lying down to sitting up straight hauling in deep breaths. Sly looks down and sees Erin; he tries to hide his emotions but he has already given it away.

"What's the problem sweetie?" Sly says, turning the bedside light on.

"I saw a red laser beam in our bedroom, it was pointed at the book." She says worried as she holds it up to him. Sly just stops as if the sum of all fears has just come true. He turns off the light again and quickly gets out of bed and dressed into his gear in less than 10 seconds. After that he wakes Carmelita up.

"It's happening." Sly says with a worried tone. Carmelita is tired and doesn't realise the implications of what he has just said.

"What is it?" Carmelita says as she emerges from sleep.

"We're under attack!" Sly says, as if all his confidence is just draining away and fear taking over.

"Not another nightmare." She says.

"Erin told me." He says, pointing to her stationary standing body.

"But…" Carmelita says.

"Get up now!" He says as he rushes over to Erin. He guides her back to her room to get Alex.

Sly is becoming one determined raccoon tonight, out of all the days on this planet; it had to be this one. He is not going to let this become a repeat offense. He will not die and he will not let Carmelita, Erin or Alex die tonight either. For tonight is the night of their eighth birthday, a day too familiar for Sly. He is mentally scared by this date and he has not been looking forward to it for several months. His head has been rucked with constant nightmares of his children dying a multitude of gruesome and horrible deaths alongside him and Carmelita. Tonight was meant to be the first time that he could get some decent sleep now that the day has passed, but he has been too naïve in forgetting about the last few hours of the night.

Sly enters into the kid's bedroom and finds Alex's bed empty; he has a mini heart attack. Erin checks under the bed like she told him to but he is not in there. She becomes worried as well.

"Where is he?" Sly asks Erin, becoming angry and worried at the same time. But a knocking from inside the cupboard ceases their worrying. Alex opens the door slightly to let them know he is there.

"Don't you do that, you gave me a heart attack." Sly says.

"I… I was just doing what you did, it worked for you." Alex replies, trying to keep his body hidden inside. Alex has also been reading his copy of the Thievius Raccoonus and has discovered a few things he didn't know. But he remembers all of the stories fed to him by Sly; they are his fondest memories.

"I hoped it would never come to this." Sly says as he crawls his way out of the bedroom and stops at a specific wall panel. The kids both watch as Sly tears down the wood panel to reveal a hand print scanner. He takes off his glove and presses onto it, it scans his hand and accepts it. Alex and Erin are just in awe as they see a piece of the wall move away to reveal an arsenal of technology.

"Uncle Bentley always plans for these things." He explains quickly, getting out his cherished binocucom and returning back to the kid's bedroom. He slowly moves his head above the windowsill with the binocucom in hand. He looks for anything that could be nearby. He scans every tree across the lake and nearby for any living creatures or heat signatures. He finds nothing, the wind picks up outside.

"There's nothing outside." He says as he turns around and walks away. This means he doesn't see what is coming from the outside.


	4. The Exponential of all Fears

**Chapter 3 – The Exponential of all fears**

**The cabin, Sweden. 10:25pm, 27****th**** April 2022.**

All Sly can hear is the shatter of glass behind him, he has no time to react as the force of the intruder forces him down to the ground. Erin and Alex dive under their beds. They can see their father, fight this intruder off his body and his black skin-tight suit until he is seen lying motionless on the ground near the window. Alex takes a sneak peak out from under his bed and sees the dead special forces soldier sitting up against the wall under the window, what he also sees is a helicopter flying above but it makes no noise.

"Carmelita!" Sly shouts at the top of his lungs. She is getting her shock pistol from the safe that Sly opened and is ready to help.

"Does everyone have their books?" Sly asks frantically.

"Yes." They both say, clutching them to their chests. He can hear banging at the door. Sly grabs the carbon fibre cane from the open case and rushes out to the door where he sees Carmelita ready behind the corridor as cover to shoot at the entrants when they break down the door.

"I've got this, protect the kids." She says, Sly does what she says and returns to the kids where he kinds another soldier freshly rappelled off balance in the room. It is an effortless motion for Sly to knock him back out of the window even after all of these years. Sly rushes back out of the room quickly to the safe that contains a button, a panic button. Sly smashes the glass and press the large red button. There is no immediate effect, as he doesn't know what Bentley has rigged it up to do.

**Amsterdam, The Netherlands.**

Meanwhile, resting peacefully in his lab. Bentley and Penelope wake up to the sound of blaring sirens and flashing red lights. Bentley rushes out of his bed and into his normal wheelchair in no time. Penelope gets out of a separate room to the same sound as well.

"What did you do this time?" She asks, following Bentley back to his main control centre.

"Sly's hit the panic button, it must be bad." Bentley replies as they rush to his station. The door reveals a room with many TV screens and controls, a team of two can operate this system and it has automatically turned on for them. They both sit down at separate chairs ready to go to work.

Back at the cabin, louder and louder thumps come emanating from the door. The final blow from the metal battering ram breaks down the door. But Suddenly, an armoured steel door slides into it's place, all of the windows are covered in this same armoured plating. Out of every corner a small security camera is revealed to let Bentley and Penelope see what is happening. Compartments in the walls fold out to reveal weapons, ammunition, food, water and every other type of object required to either fight or stay alive for long periods of time. Even under the bed, there is a camera and a compartment opening with 2 Taser guns. Clearly keeping Sly and their family alive is in Bentley's best interest.

"We'll get it under control." Bentley says via hidden speakers installed in the walls. "You've got an entire unit heading for you."

Penelope gets ready with her contribution, an army of Quadrotor helicopters. They rise out of a cylindrical tube in the ground and come flying out of their stack, one on top of the other. They fly out in formation and gunshots are heard outside. Erin and Alex go into tighter balls.

"I'll set up the escape plan." Bentley says as he presses buttons and inputs commands into computers inside his command station. "Get anything you need now before I set the final plans in motion."

Sly rushes out and gets the Mona Lisa painting from the wall and into the safe where he gets his other things like his backpack and thigh pocket that he attaches to himself. Alex goes and shuts his cane inside the case and picks it up. Erin emerges from under the bed with the real Thievius Raccoonus and puts inside the protective case. Carmelita gets her police badges and other clothing items. The Quadrotors outside do their best to hold off the onslaught but they are being shot down one by one and explosives are being set up to blast away, not the door, but the surrounding wall where it is weaker. The det cord is attached to the wall in a door shaped hole and soldiers wait on either side to breach. One wolf holds the trigger up and presses down, the section of wooden wall flies into the house and the special forces rush inside one after the other with their guns drawn. They find an empty house that looks just like normal. They rush into each room trying to find the things and people that they are looking for; but after a minute of frantic searching, they get no results.


	5. Plan B

**Chapter 4 – Plan B**

In an underground tunnel beneath the Swedish forest, the Cooper family are running as fast as they can. Sly doesn't know what is going to happen at the other end but he trusts that Bentley has got him covered. The dimly lit tunnel doesn't go for more that 500 metres but the end of it leads to a ladder that goes up high, higher than the distance they were underground. Alex, being too eager to show off, goes first and climbs it as quick as possible, followed by Carmelita, Erin then Sly.

"What is this place?" Alex asks as he steps onto some old creaky wooden floorboards. Carmelita climbs up and gives him an answer.

"It's a barn." She replies. She sees that they have climbed up to the top level of this barn and can see down to the bottom where a dump truck is parked with it's canopy open. Once Erin and Sly are up the ladder, they figure out what this means in terms of escaping.

"I think we get inside." Sly says, preparing to jump down onto the empty trailer.

"It could be a trap." Carmelita warns. A figure puts his head out of the drivers seat, it is a familiar face to Sly.

"You gonna jump down or what?" An Australian accent shouts.

"Joey?" Sly asks.

"I'll explain it later just come now." He says. The wallaby watches Sly jump down into the trailer with Carmelita. He then proceeds to catch Erin and Alex as they leap down to. Once he sees this, the diesel engine cranks into life and the cover is automatically moved to shield them from view. The Coopers sit down while the truck moves in a series of complicated turns out of the forest before they feel the solid tarmac ground.

"Where are we going?" Erin asks her father.

"I don't know." Sly asks, resigned to whatever the driver is doing. Suddenly, a bound book that says 'Plan B' is thrown into the back from the driver cabin. Alex grabs it and gives it to Sly. He opens it to see a tablet fitted inside that automatically turns on when the book is opened. A pre-recorded message plays. The Bentley tech symbol is shown before it switches to some graphic with Bentley explain them all.

"Plan B. In the case of…" The video cuts as it skips to the appropriate situation. "Military attack… I'm sending you to another location which the red dot will show you now." The dot is over the city of Paris. "You will have to assume new identities, Alex and Erin can use their first names but must change their last name. As for you, Sly and Carmelita, you will have to stay indoors as much as possible and only go out under a disguise."

"This video has now finished, switching to live feed." An automated voice announces. The tablet now shows Bentley from a camera in the control room, it is positioned to Bentley's right hand side. Penelope can be seen working away to the right of screen. Bentley is working away without talking like he doesn't realise the video is on. It takes him about 10 seconds to face the camera and speak.

"Sorry about that, you're all okay right? You're not hurt or missing?" Bentley asks.

"We're fine, just tell us what is happening." Sly replies, with the whole family watching the screen.

"Plan B is assimilation, since isolation has failed." Bentley starts. "I'm enrolling Alex and Erin into a school close to where you will be staying, don't take them there though, I can't risk you out in the open." Privately, this makes Erin feel like she has a chance to do something else and learn more things.

"Also, don't try to go back you your old hideout. I've had eyes on it for a while and I've seen the police come past it covertly, so don't try and catch their attention. As for taking care of the daily things for you, I've employed Joey to be your outside man, if you need anything, he will get it for you. Lastly, I need a last name so I can make the appropriate identification." They all look around at each other for an answer.

"Olsen." Erin says. "We've lived in Sweden after all." The other Coopers have no quandaries with it.

"Perfect." Bentley says. "Joey will collect them in Amsterdam on the way to Paris. I'll update you on this device only if there are any changes to the plan, otherwise the next time you'll hear from us is when you arrive at your destination."

Bentley turns off the screen from the tablet and, in a drastic change in persona, quickly uses the extendable arms in the wheelchair to grab Penelope out of her seat and lift her up in the air.

"It was you! Wasn't it!?" Bentley accuses the suspended mouse who is flailing in mid air.

"It's not me! Put me down!" She shouts back.

"Of course it was you! You knew I was going there, you were the only one who knew, the only one!" He shouts.

"You didn't think flying a seaplane would attract their attention? You led them right to them." She argues.

"The plane was stealthy, no radar signature." Bentley replies, trying to get the better of her.

"If you're just clinging on to some long held hope for revenge for what I did to you, then you are just stuck in the past, go back with your time machine to where you belong." She remarks.

"If you still think it's about that." Bentley says as he quickly pulls out the dart gun and shoots her before she can react. "Then you're not as smart as I thought you were."


	6. A Fresh Start

**Chapter 5 – A Fresh Start**

**Paris, France. 4:27pm 28****th**** April 2022**

After a brief stop in Amsterdam to pick up their new identity kits and a change of vehicle, they arrive into Paris, a city that Sly and Carmelita know too well. The dump truck is too cumbersome to drive in the small Parisian streets. They're just in a plain normal sized sedan that blends in just like they want it to. The traffic is light as Joey pulls up to the side of an apartment block in a sidestreet.

"We are here." Joey announces.

"Finally!" Alex says relieved, pushing the bag of chips of his knees.

"You've got all your things? Cause I have to return this car, it's a rental." Joey asks. Everyone nods their heads. "You're on the fifth floor, I'll be back in half an hour with food and other stuff, yeah."

"See you then." Sly says as he shuts the door on the car and Joey drives off into the boulevard. The family stand on the street in plain clothes, their 'other' clothes are in a suitcase. The canes inside their cases are disguised in a cardboard box that looks like it's another box of crockery instead of priceless relics, the same goes for the painting. Sly, holding a suitcase in one hand, opens the lock using an electronic key and pushes it open. This hallway is dimly lit and with it's older style of décor, it looks like it has been renovated in years.

"We'll have to walk up there." Sly explains. Erin looks up the centre of this spiral staircase and sees all of these flights of stairs that they must climb each and every single time they want to go outside.

"Alex, do you need help?" Carmelita asks as she sees Alex straining to carry the two cardboard boxes up the stairs.

"It's ok." He replies while straining to drag them up the stairs. Erin goes and helps him by lifting the other end of the boxes up. They slowly team up to go up the stairs one by one, Sly and Carmelita watch from behind with smiles for their kids working together like this, although for different reasons. It takes them 3 minutes to climb each of the 120 steps to the top. They reach the dark green wooden door that has paint flaking at the edges. Sly takes a key and inserts it in the lock and turns the key. They have no idea what is behind the door or what this new dwelling may look like. They slowly open the door to find a reasonably well equipped home, it looks like it has been freshly cleaned within the last day or so as there is no dust to speak of anywhere. There is a table in this living space with a couple of red couches and a TV, further inspection indicates there are 3 bedrooms, two bathrooms and a small kitchen. There are large shuttered windows that, when opened, look out onto the rooves of the Paris skyline.

"I bags this room." Alex says, running straight into the biggest bedroom he can find. He runs and jumps straight onto the bed and lies down, being so tired from the journey that they have had. Erin comes inside to inspect this room, having just looked at the other kids bedroom, for Sly and Carmelita automatically get the biggest bed.

"The other one has a bigger bed." Erin says. Alex rushes out of the room to look for the other bedroom. But he has taken the bait as Erin puts the book onto the desk and locks the door. She does this because she wanted a desk, somewhere that she could do work once she was at school. She is looking forward to that day. Erin hears the knocking on the door and doesn't answer because she knows that it is Alex.

"Open up." Sly commands. She unlocks it and sees Sly with Alex.

"Don't just lock the door on your brother okay." Sly instructs.

"I need a desk so I can do work once I'm at school." Erin pleads.

"It's not about that, Alex has chosen, for himself, the other bedroom but you have to say sorry to your brother." Sly insists.

"Sorry." Erin says unwillingly.

"Good, now do you want to take a walk before Joey gets back?" Sly asks.

"Is that TV, connected?" Erin asks in awe.

"I think so?" Sly answers but she has already leaped straight over the nearest couch and grabbed the remote off the coffee table and landed on the opposite couch where she leans back and turns it on. She goes through the TV guide to find out what all of the channels show and makes reference of any documentary or science channels.

"Let me have a go." Alex asks, lying on the other couch, she throws the controller at him but Sly intercepts.

"After, we take a walk." Sly commands.

"But we've just got here and I'm tired." Alex argues.

"It won't take long, after that, you can do whatever you want, but not outside." Sly says.

"Do we have to?" Alex argues again.

"Yeah, we do, so let's go." Sly says as Carmelita stands ready at the door.

"Urghhhhhhhh." Alex moans as he walks towards the door, Erin walks off without a fuss. They all go out of the doorway and go down 2 flights of stairs when a door to another apartment opens up. Sly automatically rushes out of sight and waits for the others to catch the resident's attention.

"You're the new one's. Aren't you?" A skunk answers, Carmelita immediately thinks of Le Paradox at his sight, even if this one is a teenager and doesn't smell anywhere near as hideous as that dead skunk once did. "Well, I'm Jeremy and it's nice to meet you."

"Uh, hi." Carmelita awkwardly says. Sly is standing in the corner of the landing, but they can't see that, as demonstrated when Erin turns to look for Sly and not finding anything.

"I'll let you get back to, whatever it is your doing, I'll just wait before I come down." He humbly states.

"Your choice." Carmelita says with a hint of displaced anger. Jeremy reacts with surprise; already the new neighbours hate him, just like everyone else in this city. He shuts the door and locks it up again.

"He doesn't smell bad." Erin remarks. "He looks… too young to be living by himself." Carmelita stays silent and Sly reappears behind them. They walk back down the stairs and out into the wide-open world. They turn left and join with the rest of the late afternoon foot traffic. For Erin, this is one of the places she dreamed about coming to. For Alex, it looks like one giant playground full of new places to climb. They go for a walk around the block, admiring all of the buildings architecture, or at least, that's what Sly wants everyone to think. In reality, he is looking for all of the pipes and structure that can be used for climbing and escaping out of.

"When are we going to school?" Erin asks, Alex doesn't necessarily agree with this statement.

"I don't know, Uncle Bentley is sorting it out." Sly replies back. There is a short pause before Erin decides to ask another question.

"What did you do here?" She asks to Sly, Carmelita listens in. "Because when I was reading the book, you were here a lot of times."

"Well, I lived here for a while." Sly says. "Doing my job." Carmelita doesn't appreciate that remark.

"Where?" Alex asks. Carmelita wants to know the answer to this, because it will answer the question of 'where does he hide?' that has been gnawing at her while she was still at Interpol, hunting him down.

"It's far away from here, maybe another day I'll show it to you guys." Sly says while making a mental note not to let Carmelita be there at the same time.

"I hope you do." Carmelita says with an undercurrent of conviction. Sly turns his head away to change the situation.

"Hey look! Crepes!" Sly points out at the cart that is on the side of the road. "Do you kids want one?"

"Yeah." Alex joyfully says, this walk has suddenly become a hundred times better for him. Erin, meanwhile, is more reserved.

"Erin?" Carmelita asks.

"Sure, just plain thanks." Erin replies, she has other things on her mind at the moment. Sly grabs out a 20 Euro note and heads for the stall and gets one plain crepe and on with Nutella and icing sugar for Alex. Alex wolfs it down in three bites but Erin just nibbles on it, more for stimulation than for actual eating because something else is fuelling her.

"That was so good!" Alex replies from his Nutella covered mouth as they round the last corner of their block.

"Glad you like it." Sly replies back. Carmelita is more covered that Erin isn't eating much, she has hardly made any significant dent into the crepe's sweet goodness.

"Are you okay?" Carmelita asks, putting one hand on her shoulder.

"I'm fine." She says peacefully. In her head though, she just wants to be left alone.

"You don't sound okay." She presses.

"I'm fine." Erin repeats. This causes Carmelita to stop interrogating her. When they are only 15 metres from their apartment block, a black van stops just outside of their apartment. Sly fears the worst and shields them behind with his arms. But it is Joey who gets out of the van.

"What are you so worried about? Come on, help me with these boxes." Joey says as he opens the side door of the van. It is full of closed cardboards boxes; all the same size moving house cardboard box. Joey picks up the first one and passes it to Sly. Joey picks up another box.

"Kids, you carry this one, it's much lighter than the rest." Joey instructs. They both go and take it from him. A siren turns on in the distance and is fast approaching.

"Just act normal." Joey instructs as he get another box and starts unloading them onto the footpath. The police car drives down this one way street at high speed and the Doppler effect is heard as the car goes straight past them and into another street. Erin is curious about this, she knows that they are fugitives but doesn't know much about living in a city and avoiding getting into trouble, but she is willing to learn, always. They work together lifting the various boxes up the stairs and into the apartment until the van is empty.

"When will you be back?" Sly asks.

"Oh, I'm living across the street." He says as he points to the opposite building and it's fifth floor apartment.

"Is this van rented too?" Sly asks.

"Nope, just picked it up today." Joey replies. "Yep, I walked into the dealer this morning and purchased it." He does this to deflect any resentment from Carmelita about the ambiguous meaning of 'picked'. He gets into the van and drives off down the street and turns the corner and out of sight. The Coopers head back up the stairs with their thighs burning from all of that exercise of going up and down stairs with heavy boxes, even Sly is feeling the burn. Once Inside, Alex and Erin just collapse onto the couch to recover. Sly and Carmelita begin to open up the boxes to see what it inside. Some contain food, some contain more clothing, and some contain other leisure items like books and board games. Once Sly gets to the 'light' box, he gets a small surprise and hope that he can now answer her question.

"There's are surprise for you in this box." Sly announces as he carries it over to the coffee table and places it there. The kids try to peer in but Alex takes the initiative and opens the flaps of the box to allow them to see. Alex feels annoyed but Erin is jubilated. It's their new school uniform they can see on the top.

"Yes." Erin quietly celebrates as Alex lifts out the neatly folded uniforms onto the table. There are two black blazers with alternating blue and yellow stripes along the edges of the lapels, white button shirts and black jumpers along with dark grey pants for Alex and a black skirt that has a blue and yellow plaid pattern. More school related items appear including a sports uniform and below, workbooks and other stationary items. Erin starts to take out the stationary and workbooks to claim the things that she wants; Alex is in no rush to do the same.

"Do you know when we are going to school?" Erin asks again.

"I don't know honey." Sly dismisses as he takes out a pile ring binder books that have different coloured spines. The one with black is on the top; it is entitled 'general instructions by Bentley'. Sly opens it up to reveal another tablet sitting inside. He turns it on to reveal the Bentley tech logo then a flash of light in his eyes. It causes him to put it down on top of the other books while he covers his eyes.

"This book contains information on general living conditions and expectations to avoid capture." Bentley begins, not on the screen but in a hologram. The kids are captivated by it like it is from another world. Carmelita is also intrigued as is Sly when he sees it for himself. The full colour spectrum of light is seen, like a three dimensional object is hovering above them.

"These videos will be a guide as to survive the metropolis of my choosing." As he says this, the image of the apartment comes up on the side, as does a series of five different buttons that are three dimensional as well; labelled: 'living', 'shopping', 'restrictions', 'law enforcement' and 'school'. The allure of that last one is tempting for Erin but she doesn't know what to do with this alien piece of technology that is in their house. The image is stationary and silent as it waits for an input. Everyone is stumped as to how exactly to proceed on. Alex moves around to take a look for an answer but it yields no results for him. Sly slowly moves his finger into the beams of light protruding from the four corners of this tablet to create the hologram, he rests it inside the spherical blue button and it turns red as this fingertip breaks the smooth blue boundary.

"Identity confirmed" the tablet blurts out in a monotonous male tone. "Proceed to video 'Living'". The hologram goes away as the conventional screen below goes to a loading screen that finishes in 3 seconds. A brand new, larger, hologram is created in the room.

"I don't have to remind you that you have the world's law enforcement agencies on your tail so to speak. So you should exercise the greatest caution when going around the city. Firstly, don't go stealing things, or any other crimes for that matter. So don't go and get the police's attention for something else only for them to discover who you are. Secondly, I've counted a few exit points should things get out of hand. There are the main stairs in the middle but that will most likely be blocked. The next option is a cable that is tied from your apartment to the one across the road, it will get you across and away from the cops. Lastly, there is a metal pipe outside the bathroom window that you can leap onto, it's a long drop to the bottom and there's nothing but concrete to stop your fall." Bentley instructs. As this plays, holograms of all of the aforementioned things discussed are shown in great colour detail with labels.

"If things do go bad, there are three bags hidden in metro station lockers all around Paris. Each one contains a GPS coordinate of the next safehouse and basic items that you will need to leave. Now, on the subject of what to do inside the house, don't do anything to attract attention, don't do anything that would cause people to come over like plumbers, electricians or builders, don't do anything that would another member of the family to make rash decisions and jeopardise you all, and finally. Sly, do not go back to the old safehouse, the police will almost certainly find you there." Bentley finishes. The hologram turns off and goes back to the home screen. The kids reaction to all of this new information is overwhelming, but it's not like they haven't heard of it before. They are not frightened of this prospect, but are scared of facing this unknown alien world.

Erin makes a quick look to her parents before she proceed uncontrollably to press the 'school' button. She is begging to know the answers. A new scenario is created in the beams of light, a holographic image of the school they will be attending.

"Under a different identity, the children will be going to a school nearby. They will walk there together; Neither Carmelita nor you will accompany them. As far as the school is concerned, you are both working long hours and don't have the time. It is an International school and so they will be subjected to a variety of studies and students. They will go from 8am to 3pm and their timetables will be given when you arrive tomorrow." Bentley says, giving out all of the admin details. "As to their behaviour, they will have to not mention anything about you or Carmelita, neither anything about any Cooper including themselves. Finally, but most importantly, they must appear to be completely normal kids, tell them not to overachieve in anything that may get them singled out."

The screen returns to the home section, they spend the rest of the night watching this brand new technology guide them to all aspects of living. They order in some pizza on this first night and stay up to watch yet more instructional holograms, just to see what they can do rather than to intently take down all of the points that Bentley is suggesting. They all head off to bed with many things still stuck inside the cardboard boxes that crowd out the space around the door of the apartment.


	7. Concrete Wilderness

**Chapter 6 – Concrete Wilderness**

**Their apartment, Paris, France. 6:21am 28 April 2022**

Erin can't sleep any longer. The anticipation is killing her, She has already had some cereal which she found out of one of the cardboard boxes as well as some milk in a cooler bag. She places the breakfast on the coffee table and begins to channel surf, returning to those channels that she remembered from yesterday. She begins with a small documentary on how things are made, something that has fascinated her. Whether it may be a wheel rim, a candy bar or vegetable oil; she digests the information as well as her cereal. The sun slowly intensifies from behind the wooden shutters that block out the sun, streaks of light hit the wooden floor and print the small regular rectangles of orange light that peers through the slits of the shutters. It is almost half an hour later until Sly wakes up and is surprised that she is up this early due to the very long trip yesterday, it is the earliest he could force himself out of bed.

"Honey, you're up early." Sly hushly speaks from across the main living area.

"I want to be ready for school." Erin replies.

"Can you wake your brother up while I take a shower?" Sly asks.

"Okay." Erin replies as she gets up and walks slowly towards Alex's room, she opens the door quietly and Alex sleep through it all.

"Get up Alex." She says normally, then waits for a response. He doesn't move at all apart from the breathing motion of his chest. She sneaks up on him until she lifts the sheets away from him until she can see him in his blue pyjamas, and yet he still sleeps. But she isn't fooled.

"I know you're lying there and not sleeping." Erin says.

"Am I doing good?" Alex asks.

"Well." She corrects.

"You're lying, it was bad." He says, putting himself down from the misinterpretation.

"No." She says, confused initially but she recognises his error. "You're meant to say; 'Am I doing well?' you'll learn it at school today." She insists.

"I'm not going." He replies. "There's a whole new world to explore, more things to climb." Alex describes, alluding to his perceived better use of time.

"You're gonna love it." She argues.

"How is school going to make me become a better thief?" He asks his sister this difficult question.

Meanwhile, Sly looks out of this bathroom window that Bentley told him about; he sees the metal pipe that runs up and down the building. He is looking down to a small garden below that has a view of the sky. The pipe is 3 metres away from the window on the left wall, but the window is hard enough to fit through, let alone jump the distance. He goes inside and takes his shower, remembering the times when he too was at school.

"Have fun." The words echo inside his brain and eventually drown out the sound of the running water of the shower.

**23****rd**** April 1992**

"Have fun." Ms Puffin says kindly to the gang as they get out of her car and drive off, he remembers hearing Bentley's stories of her rage and anger towards everyone, but they were the only three from the orphanage that went to this school; only because Bentley had specifically requested that he and his friends attend. He remembers still not being entirely sure about his new friends, having only been there a few days. His first day was full of confusion, having never seen such a place before in his life.

"It means that we don't have to stay with her the whole day." Bentley says. At that moment, Sly couldn't imagine Ms. Puffin being evil, because he knows the definition too well, nothing could possibly compare with what he saw from inside that wardrobe.

"I own the place round here." Bentley announces as they walk inside the primary school. Sly chuckles to himself, thinking that he did actually own the school at one point.

"Hey turtle! What's the matter? You're so scared to come you brought another bodyguard." The group of overdeveloped bullies belts out in forced laughter for their bulldog leader.

"He's so thin." He says as he walks up to the young Sly. "He ain't going to help you at all, watch." He says as prepares his right fist for a well-aimed punch at Sly's gut. He goes for the punch but Sly moves out of the way and he punch follows through too far, causing the bulldog to fall over.

"You got lucky new kid. Next time you won't see it coming before you're on the ground." He retorts, retreating to the safety of his pace where they are retreating also into the bowels of the school building. This new trio does the same opening of the pale green wooden double doors.

**The present day**

Sly opens the bathroom door having finished his shower and gotten dressed. He notices the children arguing in Alex's room.

"I knew it!" Alex announces to his defeated sister. Sly moves away from the door and acts normal as the door opens from behind him. With Erin walking quickly out of the door and back into her room, shutting the door forcefully on leaving his sight.

"Alex, what did you do?" Sly asks as he return to the bedroom, he sees a scruffy Alex, still in his pyjamas pretending to be asleep again.

"I'm not going to school, it's not going to help me become a better thief." Alex explains, rolling over so he face Sly who has sat down on the side of the bed.

"It's not my decision to make." Sly says.

"Do we always have to do what Uncle Bentley says?" Alex moans.

"Only if you don't want to be caught." Sly says, completely defeating Alex in the process. The young raccoon has no choice now but to get up and head for the kitchen where he proceed to beg at Carmelita for food, he gets it after having changed into his uniform. The next ten minutes go by in a blur as they ready themselves to go to school, including packing their bags for their first day.

**7:43am**

"Bye." Carmelita says as she shuts the door on her kids. She turns to Sly who is just behind her. "Isn't this a bit restrictive what Bentley is making us do?"

"He's the smartest guy I know, I'm sure he wouldn't be doing it if it didn't have a reason." Sly casually replies, going into the kitchen to get himself some more food.

Meanwhile, outside the apartment.

"It's that skunk again." Alex points out as he looks down the centre of the balustrade; he spots the black hand sliding down the handrail a few floors below. They walk down slowly but stay a constant distance away from him, not wanting to be so close to him on their first day of school.

"Okay, now I take one thing back." Alex announces quietly.

"What's that?" Erin wonders.

"Now I have one reason to go to school." Alex says.

"Sneaking and spying on your neighbours isn't exactly…" Erin says, trying to prove him wrong, but she goes silent because she knows he is right about this one. Besides, it means she doesn't have to hassle him every time. They reach the bottom of the stairs and Erin unlocks the door with the key she has on her. They turn to the right to do the short walk to school. They spot the out of place white patch on the ground about 30 metres away from them. The walk towards it and discover that it is white flour, strange, but they continue on.

"Is someone already wanting winter to come?" Alex jokes. Erin isn't that impressed.

They make the right hand turn and make the next left to find the school gates opened, it looks like some fortress in the middle of Paris with it's high sandstone walls protecting or keeping in the children, with only the large wrought steel gate the only entry point. They walk inside together and see groups of kids of different ages talking to each other on the cobblestoned front area. They spot a teacher who is watching them all but that ceases when she spots Alex and Erin enter the gates. The blonde, tall and slim cat slinks over to them.

"I'm Ms. Tinkler. You must be Alex and Erin Olsen! Come on in, no need to be shy." She says as she coaxes them forward into the building. They walk forward past all of the other kids who look much bigger and stronger than they are. However, they are not phased by their presence.

"I'll take you to deputy headmaster Maine's office, he will show you around and give you your timetables and lockers." She says, leading towards a wooden door with a gold plaque reading 'Matthew Maine, Deputy Headmaster' in black lettering. When the door is opened, it reveals an ornately decorated room with a chesterfield at one end and an oak desk at another, with similarly coloured bookshelves behind the desk filled with all sorts of old books. There is a window on their right that looks out into the courtyard they entered in.

"Thank you Ms. Tinkler, have a seat." The suited Lion says, pointing to the brown chesterfield. They wait as he types away on his computer. Alex meanwhile spots a security camera in the top left corner behind the lion. He smiles at it and gives a wave but he retracts his hand when the lion gets out of his plush office chair with the two pieces of laminated paper.

"Alex." He says, giving out the first timetable. "Erin." They take a look at their new timetable with the grid of subjects from them to follow.

"There's a map on the back of the timetable to help with your way around. I'll show you to your lockers." He says, opening the door. The first bell goes, five minutes before classes actually start, meaning that some kids are already at their lockers and getting out their belongings.

"Tuck your shirt in." He says to one rebellious teenage student. "Do your tie up!" he says to another before they walk past a classroom and onto the left where they will be situated. They are in the section with smaller locker to accommodate their smaller size. They are each 40 centimetres wide, 1 metre high and about 50 centimetres deep.

"Here are your locks for your lockers and your first class is Geography with Mr. Mitt." The deputy headmaster explains quickly before turning his head at the sound of trouble. "Hey, stop fighting!" He says as he quickly rushes over to the scene. Erin meanwhile is putting her books in her locker. She is wondering now about her vision of what school was like in her head. She thought it would be a place where kids learn things, not this unruly place. But then again, she has not experienced a class just yet.

"These locks are too easy to unlock." Alex quietly says to Erin, holding the combination lock in his hand. "We could get into anyone's lockers." He schemes while placing his own things inside the locker.

"We're not just going to break into people's lockers, we are just normal kids at school like that hologram said." Erin reminds Alex.

"I said 'could'." Alex corrects.

They retrieve their pencil cases and a notebook and proceed to their first class, using the map on their timetables. There are 16 kids including the twins in this class which has 8 two seater desks lined up with 2 columns of 4 desks.

"So you're the fresh meat." A male tiger cub says after turning off his phone and putting it into his designer denim jeans, too rebellious to even wear the uniform. "I think it needs some tenderising before you tackle this first class don't you think?" he asks his group of 5. The Coopers just stand silently, acting as if they don't even exist.

"You gonna say something?" He retorts, hoping for a reaction.

"The real question is are you getting another detention today Tyson? Apart from the one given to you for not wearing uniform." Mr. Mitt says as he walks around a corner struggling with a load of papers and folders plus a thermos of coffee. "Come in kids." He says, unlocking the door. They pour into the classroom and take their seats, with Alex and Erin sitting next to each other in the 2nd row on the left.

"Okay, we have two new students, Alex and Erin Olsen who have just moved from Sweden I believe. Whose capital is?" The teacher asks. There is a pause as no one wants to answer.

"Anyone?" He pleads. Since no one want's to answer it, he turns his attention to the resident know it all at the front.

"Stockholm." The small rat answers.

"Thank you." He exasperatingly says. "Now, um…" He continues as he turns his back on the class, a dangerous thing to do. A scrunched up sheet of paper lands from behind onto their table in front of Alex who is sitting in the aisle. He opens it to see some writing in red texta: 'At recess, you're mine.' Alex scrunches it up back into it's spherical form and while the teachers back is turned, throws it towards the bin, landing it in off the wall. Alex doesn't look back but if her did, he would see the completely shocked reaction of the backseat bandits at the back and the bubbling anger of Tyson. He doesn't like being showed up, especially when it comes to sports.

The class finishes and Alex looks at his timetable for the class.

"Where's this room?" He asks his sister, pointing to the box that says 'UG' in it. The other classmates have left the room but the twins go to Mr. Mitt to find this room hidden on their timetable.

"Excuse me, where exactly is UG?" Erin asks, with Alex standing beside her. Mitt spins around on his desk chair.

"It means under ground, just go out and down the stair case." He explains. They both walk out of the classroom and find the wide staircase with some students going up and some going down, all of various ages. They follow the stairs downward path for four flights where they reach what is arguably the most impressive feature of this school. Since space is tight in Paris, they had to create some space so that kids could run around. Hence, this is an underground basketball court. They spot a few kids already getting changed into their sports uniform.

"Do we have that?" Alex asks.

"No." Erin replies, slightly scared of what the consequences may be. They wait by the entrance to the gym until they find the PE (Physical Education) teacher. The leopard arrives in a yellow school polo top and shorts with runners.

"You're the new kids here." She says to them. "Do you not have sports uniforms yet? It's okay, just take some from lost property for today and ask your parents to come and purchase a uniform." She says, getting a plastic tub with varying sizes of clothing. "Let's see." She says, picking through the tub to find an outfit for each of them. "We don't have shoes so just play in bare feet for today." She says, handing over the sports uniforms. They go inside the change room and get changed, they are the last to line up on the edge of the court.

"Since it's Friday, we are playing dodgeball." She announces. There is a muted celebration amongst peers, Alex and Erin don't even know why. There are 5 soft squishy balls on the centre line.

"I'll split you into teams, 1,2,1…" She starts; the kids at the other end rearrange themselves to get into their preferred teams. In doing this, one kids gets in between Alex and Erin, which inadvertently puts them on the same team, despite having no idea whats going on. Erin steps forward to the left where she thinks her team is, Alex just follows her because he knows that she is the smarter one out of them in terms of general knowledge. They walk up to the back wall where everyone else is lining up; ready to sprint forward to grab the balls.

"Go!" She shouts, waiting at the sideline. The kids rush forward to grab the ball, some hang back but Alex and Erin do it for different reasons. They watch the kids grab the balls and hurl them at each other. It turns into a frenzy as they try to hit their opponents with the ball

"Use the balls to hit them, don't get hit by them." Erin says to Alex as they hang back while trying to figure out what is happening. She sees someone of the opposing tem catch a ball and someone re enter the court. "And if you catch it, someone on your team comes back in." But when they turn to actually play the game, they are being decimated, they only have two others whereas the other team which holds that group of 6 has the full complement. They hang back and wait to figure it out some more but it only leads to the other two getting out, the six on their team waiting on the side line watch as their fate in this game rests in these new kids.

"Don't worry, I was just saving you for last." Tyson declares as he hurls a powerful throw towards Erin who expertly dodges it. Their training is kicking in instinctively, even if they don't know it, they are just playing a game. Now, all the balls are in Alex and Erin's court. The opposing eight wait close to their area to taunt them.

"Come on, I dare you to hit me!" He taunts. "You're two are so skinny that you can't even pick up the ball."

"Be kind to the new kids." The leopard asks.

Alex does indeed pick up a ball and then another, holding one in each hand. He takes the one in his right and throws it as hard as he can at Tiger, but he side steps away from the equally powerful throw.

"Look at me, I'm gonna dance!" he taunts, pulling all sorts of fancy moves just to taunt them. Alex throws the next one instead at one of his cronies and they are hit on the leg; one down, seven to go. Alex's teammates are still silent though as they analyse the physical condition and skills of these new kids. The tiger's attention now turns to Erin.

"Just give it to him, he'll at least have a chance." He taunts again, while one of his cronies grabs the two balls on their side. Erin doesn't like her brother being referred to as 'him'. She begins to utilise smarter tactics. She passes one ball to Alex, getting the tigers attention. She quickly hurls the second ball right from Tyson's head. He bends over just in time, but someone near him isn't so lucky. Alex takes the final ball on their side and holds it in his hands, ready to use it as a shield from the onslaught that is being prepared. They see the remaining six competitors quickly talk plans and then break as they all throw 4 balls straight at Erin, aiming to take her out. But she is always ready and her reactions are too fast as she catches the first one and knocks the subsequent one up into the air, the third misses and the forth she jumps over as it goes for her feet. She looks for the ball in the air but Alex is already running across to catch it. The teams are now even.

Even the sports teacher is surprised at someone who doesn't looks like they could even play sport and yet has such versatility and ability at the same time. All the balls are in their court and they ready to throw it all at once at their opponents who have gone to the back wall to protect themselves. The other two on their team try to throw the ball as hard as they can but they barely reach the required distance and are easily catchable. Alex and Erin know better despite their longer throwing range, all the training in the countryside in Sweden is beginning to show, albeit not in the way that Sly intended. Someone on the other team has decided to go all out and rushes forward with such vulgarity that Alex just has to reach out and tag him with the ball still in his hand to confine him to the sideline. One ball comes flying at his face but he reaches out with the ball and deflects it into the air, for Erin to catch. More throws are exchanged in this epic battle of 8 years olds underneath Paris. But Alex and Erin it seems are always on the losing side, with their teammates not being able to stay in for more than a minute. Erin decides to do the obvious.

"Everyone get back." She says, it is the first thing either of them has said during this game. They have both not grown up being brash or loudmouth, they are both quiet and keep to themselves more often than not. They have not inherited the same personality as their parents. While everyone is just at the back wall, there are only 3 left on the other team. The two raccoons see that their final challengers are flustered, they had been used to being the kings and queens of the school, just being able to dominate their surroundings and now to have two new kids just show the up like this is a complete intrusion of the order of things at this school. They are becoming tired as well, they are not as conditioned or as fit as someone who can climb trees like it is walking or run along the shore of the lake for long periods of time. Another ball is hurled at Erin but it is very tame and is caught into her chest. She proceeds to finish it off as she quickly throws the ball back at the other crony, setting up the finish that they want.

"You think you're so good, you haven't even hit me yet." Tyson taunts but he has become very scared on the inside that his reign is declining as time progresses. His taunts and shouts have little merit and is burning himself out. He only has one more ball left and puts all of his strength behind it, only to see it sail way off it's intended target and land lamely on the ground. He is now stranded by himself with no protection. But on the outside he is as confident and arrogant as before, he has his hands ready to catch, hoping to still be the hero that he wants to be. But while he is doing this Alex and Erin have a small chat of how they will finish this off. They separate and Alex spreads wide. Erin throws it diagonally in between Alex and Tyson, laying it up for Alex who throws it at the airborne ball, deflecting it into Tyson's head. Tyson was just about to laugh heartily at this poor effort but he was caught out. Now the Cooper's have won. They don't celebrate as much as their team mates who are absolutely stunned at this. In the end, they don't know what to do next. They have not been in this situation before, nor have they known what dodge ball was 15 minutes ago. But now, among this group of students, they have suddenly become both feared and heralded.

They play some more games but at the end of this class, it is the same result. They head back up the stairs, some of them so tired to even walk up the stairs but they don't include Erin or Alex, who walk casually back to their lockers having returned their sports uniforms and replaced them with their uniforms.

"Why is everyone so bad compared to us?" Alex asks his sister. She doesn't know why and hence, doesn't respond.

"I mean, they've been here for years and yet we just won on the first day." Alex comments further. They don't know of their advanced physical prowess over their classmates. Neither do they know that it is to be 'advanced' in the first place.

"Doesn't everyone climb trees or run around?" Alex asks again.

"I don't think there are trees in Paris that you can climb on." Erin answers.

"You don't need trees, you have pipes, you have poles, you have ladders…" Alex lists of all of the things he has seen that could be climbed on.

"I get it, but we are just normal kids at this school." Erin reiterates, not thinking what happened over the last hour as they both reach their lockers and put their things away. But as they turn around, a much larger tiger stands behind them along with Tyson.

"Hi, I believe you two made my brother here look like a wimp and a pussy." He explains happily but sarcastically.

"But that's what you are." Erin retorts back with an expert comeback. The big tiger towering over them is reserved; he knows that he brought that joke on himself.

"That was uncalled for, but if you do that again your gonna be on the ground while I give you a lesson in how things are done around here for you new kids. Comprende? Or whatever you say in Sweden." He answers as he walks off with Tyson.

"Such a meathead." Erin comments to Alex.

"What?" Alex asks.

"He's not smart enough to see what he's getting into." Erin explains.

"I didn't expect school to be like this, it's way less boring than I was thinking of." Alex says. He thought it would be like some monotonous place full of old teachers telling things he didn't need to know and heaps of work both at home and at school.

"So you enjoy it then." Erin says, luring Alex into acceptance.

"I guess, so far at least." Alex concludes. They hear a loud bang of wood on metal. But when they look, someone's been thrusted into a locker and is now being palmed around a group of older kids like a ragdoll being shoved around a circle. The black and white nature of this bullying is easy for them to see, because it's that skunk from 2 floors down. He is resigned to facing this beating; it's what he goes through every single day. He chalks up the bruises and bumps until they have had enough 'fun' with him. He is left on the ground by this group of kids who disperse as quickly as they assembled. But Jeremy doesn't react; he just gets up, albeit slowly, and leaves as if nothing had happened to him. The twins also look but don't do anything, secluding themselves from this altercation.


	8. Solace at Zero

**Chapter 7 – Solace at Zero**

**Bentley's Lab, Amsterdam, Netherlands. 12:21pm 28****th**** April 2022**

All light is too bright for her, being stuck in sleep for more than 2 days really concentrates the lenses in the eyes. Naturally, Penelope tries to get up, but she is bound to a table, and not just any table. It's an Extricator 3.4 with the special add on water torture device. She slowly regains her surroundings and realises what had happened before she has knocked out by a long lasting sleep serum. There is no pain in the ankle where it entered; it's designed to be that way.

"Bentley!" She shouts at the top of her lungs still in her yellow tracksuit combo she always wears. She squirms, hoping that the metal clasps will break against her defiance but to no avail. "I'm going to get you for this, two can play at that game Bentley, if you're not going to let go then can do the same, when I get…" She apostrophically shouts towards anywhere she can turn her head with her arms and legs strapped down. Her shouting is broken by the unlocking of the door that further bars her exit.

"I can't believe that serum lasted that long." Bentley mutters to himself as he enters into the room. "I'm such a genius."

"It would take someone monumentally stupid to do what you have just done." Penelope shouts once again with no sign of tiring.

"Please be quiet, you're making me deaf." Bentley asks casually.

"You rotten green ball cased in shell!..." She says as she thinks of every possible insult she could shout to drag him into pain. Bentley goes over to this brand new torture table and brings out of it, using the control panel on the side, some nitrous oxide. The automatic arm places the mask onto her resisting face that frantically turns away from it but her head is locked in by some more metallic arms so she has to accept it. The mask is placed over and the gas is pumping, she goes limp.

"When I implicated you in giving away their position, I may have been a little presumptuous." Bentley explains, worried on the inside about his very bad mistake. "I don't want to sound stupid or anything but I, I. I was wrong." The words choke him like a piece of food that won't go down the oesophagus. Bentley becomes closer and closer to breaking down into tears; the longer the pause, the more intense urge becomes.

"How can I ever make up for something like that?" He asks himself more than Penelope. A green light flashes on the table, indicating that the correct amount of N2O has been pumped. He slides his finger down on a virtual tab that turns of the nitrous flow and lowers the arm. "So, what can I do? Anything?" Bentley pleas.

"Anything you say?" Penelope says, unaffected by the gas that was being forced down the tube. Bentley is also confused how she has not gone under the effects of laughing gas, but he nods while giving a small smile in hope that this could wash away this mistake. "First you can unchain me from this wretched table." Penelope instructs. Quickly, Bentley obliges; rushing to fulfil her desires. Once the metal clasps retract into the smooth table, she gets up although rather stiffly as the effects of not having moved in two days are becoming apparent to her. She walks out slowly, ignoring Bentley who's tiny smile turns into concern; concern that he isn't adequate anymore, that this is the last straw for her and she is now gone forever. Bentley thinks momentarily of all the things that he is seeing literally walk out of the door on him. He would return to being a complete loner, the first time since the orphanage and for someone who was as shy and socially awkward as him, that's an achievement in itself.

"Wait! I can make it up to you." Bentley despairingly pleas while wheeling his wheelchair from the makeshift torture room into the main area. "I can give you money, contracts, secret technology; anything." Penelope continues the ignorance as she walks quickly into her own room, leaving Bentley trailing behind desperately.

"Just say what you want and I'll get it, please, just anything." Bentley begs as the door to her room is shut and locked. He waits outside in a heap of constant despair that finally breaks down into it's most basic form, tears, and lots of them. Penelope can't hear from the inside as it is sound proofed but if she could, she would hear Bentley slowly moving into this sad state. A small sniffle starts it off and the salty water comes from the tear ducts automatically in drops. It grows like the suns heat in summer, becoming overwhelming to the point that it is the only things that he can do. All of his knowledge accumulated is suddenly forgotten and seemingly replaced with infinite tears that last and last as long as she is stuck in that room. After 15 minutes of straight crying, the rubbing of the eyes makes them sore enough to finally cut through the water and he can actually see whats in front of him. Many trails of water roll down his cheeks and underneath the chin, down the neck and dampening the grey undershirt that becomes tainted with even more darker tones when combined with the anxious sweat that was prevalent leading up to this moment. It is only when he can concentrate on something else that he realises that Penelope is taking a long time, this gives him the opportunity to make an apology, to convince her that they can both co exist together. Once Bentley works up the courage, he knocks on the door. Bentley waits, psyching himself up for this occasion which could make or break his relationship with her permanently. He has never met someone so smart and at the same time, so perfect.

Time passes and no response. Maybe she is ignoring him he thinks as he waits in his soaked shirt that stands out from the gleaming wheelchair filled with gizmos, one such gadget is a sonar scanner that he uses to check to see if she is indeed inside the room. Bentley checks again, hoping that his machine has messed up, but of course it hasn't, Bentley has built it. Bentley knocks again, but this time with more purpose and confidence. He doesn't want her to leave now; otherwise she will slip out of his grasp forever it seems. Bentley becomes desperate and takes out the skeleton key he has for every single room. He didn't want to use it before, because surely she would be so outraged that she would cannibalise him if he tried to invade her space. Now he fears the worst as he turns the key and opens the door. She is not there.

Penelope may not have been as youthful as she once was but that doesn't mean she isn't as athletic. The mouse opens up the grate on the roof that allows her to exit out of the venting system that she used to climb out of it. The drugs do not affect her at all, nor has she been drugged at any point during this encounter. Simply holding her breath was enough to beat the mask. But she is not thinking about the past, now she is thinking of what to do now. Get away from here. She had time to even put on a disguise while Bentley cried outside her window. She dons a wig with short black hair that covers her natural long blonde hair. She has tucked away her normal tracksuit combo outfit into a backpack that also contains everything she needs to get away; a fake passport, bundles of euros and a holographic tablet computer. What she wears now is not her style at all; she would never be caught wearing this purple t-shirt and dark blue jeans. Fashion is not her desire, but what she is wearing certainly turns heads. Enough even that one person walks straight into someone else with his head turned the wrong way.

She doesn't know exactly where to go, but she knows roughly her destination. She takes out the tablet and opens up a map; she lowers the holographic distance using gesture control to move the hologram closer to the tablet and pinches to make it smaller. She has only seen pictures of this place before, so she scours the map physically, dragging the aerial photos until she thinks she has the correct address. She saves it and shuts it down. The first thing she needs is a train ticket.

* * *

**Notice (27 November 2013)**

**Do you have any predictions for the 5th Sly Cooper game?**

I'm compiling an armchair bingo list of possible things that may happen in the game both in the story and about how the game will rate. If you have any suggestions, from the plausible to the utterly ridiculous, then PM me with your ideas and a points allocation if it happens. There are only two rules.

It must be a yes/no type question.

The chance of it happening must be rated from 1-10. With 1 being almost certain and 10 being almost impossible.


	9. Matt the Rat

**Chapter 8 – Matt the Rat**

**Paris, France. 3:04pm 28****th**** April 2022.**

School has finished for this first day, the weekend awaits Alex and Erin but they do not appreciate its goodness yet. They have not experienced the grind of the school week and so don't treasure this two day respite. Is there such thing as a weekend when everyday seemed to be same? The two raccoons leave the large steel gate and walk together along the footpath towards home.

"Are you sure that 15 divided by 4 is not 3? Because no one likes three quarters of an apple." Alex asks.

"They don't care if they get the extra three quarters each. They each get three apples plus three quarters of an apple." Erin explains.

"But if they get three quarters of an apple, they're each gonna have a piece that's brown on the inside that they don't want to eat, so they only want to eat the three whole apples." Alex argues.

"That's not the point of the question." Erin rebuts.

"Why do they ask about apples then?" Alex asks his sister as they turn the corner. Erin stops behind Alex and pulls him back behind the corner. She peaks around the corner again to see someone being dragged into a vacant alleyway, acting completely submissive, like they are waiting to get it over and done with.

"We'll cross the street and walk behind the cars." Erin explains, formulating a plan to get past this incident. Alex nods, he knows that she always has the best plans. Erin breaks from cover closely followed by her brother as they walk normally across the road, looking right then left the right again for any vehicles or bicycles. They go behind the cars, peaking through the small gaps between them to look at what is happening. The move along the street, turning their heads to look down the dark alley the sun cannot penetrate. They see someone being repeatedly thrusted against the sandstone wall. These two onlookers don't avert their eyes at such violence; it's relatively lame compared to what have seen before. They can only hear faintly the shouting from across the street over the sound of cars and pedestrians, which is not loud enough for them to discern any words or meaning.

"What are you looking at?" Someone asks them from behind. They turn quickly, fearing that someone has found them out, but it turns out to be that rat from geography class.

"Uhhhh…" Erin says, trying to think of something else.

"That's just where Jeremy gets beaten up everyday after school, he's like the most infamous person at school." This rat explains so awkwardly calmly towards them, as if he is comfortable with this persistent violence. "I saw you two in geography and P.E., I've never seen anyone win against Tyson before. I'm Mathieu, but you can call me Matt." He explains. Alex and Erin exchange a quick glance as to ascertain whether they should trust him.

"You're not really Swedish are you?" Matt asks, this makes Alex and Erin very suspicious about this intruder to their space. Erin calms herself down and begins to recite the backstory that Bentley gave them.

"Our family moves around a lot, we've just come from Sweden after 3 years there, I hope we don't have to move again." She comments.

"Sure, okay then." Matt replies. "So do you want to come to my place? You two seem nice enough."

"Uh, our parents said that we have to be home tonight, it's only our first day." Erin replies.

"Fair enough, I'll see you on Monday." He says, starting to walk off in the same direction as Alex and Erin. Alex takes another look at the alleyway, he spots the shadows walk further into the alleyway with only their silhouettes visible. Jeremy, while looking battered and bruised, doesn't feel much. He's become so used to this unwanted ritual he has to face every single day of his waking life. Meanwhile, Alex asks his question as he suspects this kids knows some things.

"How do 4 people share 15 apples?" Alex asks. Erin just feels annoyed that he hasn't let go of his meaningless philosophical argument.

"Simple, give 3 whole ones to the 4 people then cut up the last 3 apples into quarters, then give 3 quarters to them each." Matt simplistically explains. A look goes over Alex that shows that he gets it now. Matt looks over to the right and spots Jeremy walking across the street to their side as he walks home.

"Hide." Matt whispers as he darts into a gap between two cars. Alex and Erin both do the same and Alex peaks onto the footpath as Jeremy walks away past the corner and out of sight.

"Why did we have to do that?" Erin asks.

"Anyone who's associated with him gets beaten up as well, I can't be seen near him or I'm gonna be dead." He says. Alex and Erin don't see what the fuss is about on face value. They slowly get out of this gap and back onto the street.

"Why is he hated so much?" Alex asks.

"No one knows for sure but some say he releases a smell that makes people want to beat him up. I overheard on Tuesday that he has no parents and lives in the sewers at night." Matt explains mystically. The racoons say nothing.

"Bye." Matt says as he crosses the street to continue on straight whereas Alex and Erin turn left towards their apartment and see in the distance the skunk opening the same door that they will have to step through, which they do a minute later and enter the dark short hallway leading to the old wooden staircase. They walk up slowly but even at this pace they spot that black arm reaching over the handrail getting closer to them. He seems to move slower and slower going to an inevitable stop. But when he stops he moves again swiftly into his room and they hear the slam of the door after he unlocks it. Alex and Erin then make their way past his apartment and up the last two flights of stairs to their apartment where Erin unlocks the door.

"Where were you?" Carmelita concerningly asks. "You were meant to be home earlier."

"We were just…" Alex says but the next words seem to be inescapable out of his mouth, like he can't say them.

"You've heard Bentley. You know how much I love you." Carmelita says.

"Technically, he said that we have to walk ourselves home, he didn't say anything about being home quickly." Erin corrects. Carmelita wants to just twist this to her advantage but she realises that Erin is right.

"So, how was school?" Carmelita asks as she sits down on the back of the couch.

"It's…" Erin starts. "Kind of… I don't know how to describe it. It's just school."

"It's your first day, of course it wasn't going to be perfect." Carmelita reassures her.

"It's not that, it's just different." Erin slowly says, trying to adequately describe what her experience of one day is in words.

"Tell me, what did you do?" She asks at both of them.

"Well, we Geography, P.E., Maths, English and History." Erin lists.

"How were they then?" She asks.

"Well." She says as she pauses. She is finding this seemingly simple task incredibly difficult. As she thinks, she hears the sound of a flushing toilet and then her father walking out of the bathroom.

"Kids! How was school?" Sly asks as he walks over to Carmelita.

"I learned how 4 people could share 15 apples." Alex chimes in.

"That's great." Sly forces himself to say. There is a pause as everyone just looks at each other, wondering what to do next; they are trying to think of what is normal to do after school. But they aren't normal, they don't even know what normal is having been isolated from the populous for years. The silence forces people them to separate from this awkward gathering and go do their own things.


	10. The Arrival

**Chapter 9 – The Arrival**

**Gare du Nord, Paris, France. 4:12pm, 28****th**** April 2022**

The sheer volume of people on the streets leading out of the station is suffocating. Cars pile up on the side, 3 abreast at some points, allowing their passengers to leave. People criss cross their way around each other like some perfectly choreographed routine they all understand without knowing it. But in the bowels of this station, the dark underground stations hidden away from the grand architecture, is where Penelope is. The distance is too far to walk or to cycle within the 30-minute time limit before a fee is incurred. So she is standing near the edge of the platform along with all the other afternoon commuters and tourists that join her on this journey along the number 4 line. With only the backpack storing all of her items, she boards the crowded train into the city. She looks up at the hang grips attached to the roof and knows she will never reach them. The ones that can however look gloomy and deflated from the day, dressed in their crumpled suits and ties. In any case, she doesn't need to hold on, her balance is good enough to just stand and anticipate the bends that this electrified metal box on wheels has to follow. Stops come and go as some people get off and are replaced by some more, luckily she is small so space isn't a huge issue unlike some of the fat cats who aren't so lucky.

"Odeon." The automated French male voice says over the loud speaker. From a quick consultation of her metro map, this is the right station to change trains. She tries to make her way past the bodies of those who don't care at all.

"Odeon." The voice repeats as the train stops at the station. The doors open and she gets off along with some other people. All the people walk in the same direction, up some stairs towards the exit but in this case she is just changing trains. She turns down to the correct walkway, following the overhead signs and their coloured circles that represent the lines. She goes and finds an empty platform; a train must have just departed, where she sits down on one of the benches with advertising fitted behind the acrylic seat back. She take out her tablet and re checks her position, the GPS signal is still good enough to see the route she has to take after leaving her final stop.

"Do you need directions?" A passing stranger in his large brown overcoat asks as he sits beside her.

"I'm good." She replies, turning her attention back to the tablet.

"Paris is such a beautiful city." He begins. "I've lived here all my life and still I find something new to do. Last night, I went to an underground art show in an abandoned metro station. It was completely amazing the art they did, like one where you could only see the full picture if you stood in this one precise spot." He says as he gets up to do a demonstration. Penelope watches, there is nothing else to do while waiting for this train.

"There was something like a column here and then here and some on this back wall and if you stood about… here, you could see the most beautiful sight I have seen in a long time." He nostalgically alludes. Penelope wants to know but her thoughts are arrested severely when she feels a tug coming from one of her straps of her backpack that she stood on with her left foot. She quickly turns her head and sees his accomplice snatching the backpack away from her and turning to run away. Penelope gets up like lightning to intercept but she is pulled back by the distraction who tries to encase her in his arms but unsuccessfully as she slips out of his grasp and runs back up the stairs to find the thief nearing the top and turning to the right. She sprints up the stairs, leaping three at a time until she reaches the top and see the pickpocket running away around another corner whilst putting on the backpack. She runs in the same direction with extreme haste but when she turns this corner she sees no running thief, just a moderate crowd of people walking both ways in and out of the station. She looks up to the stairs and spots the thief walking casually out of the station, even having time to light a cigarette as he steps into the sunlight. Penelope also follows his path out of the station and begins to follow him; in plain sight is not the right place to intercept.

For several minutes it goes on like this. He walks ahead; she follows behind making sure not to be spotted. They play this reversed game of cat and mouse as they walk along the streets, her eyes only on the black backpack containing her things. She spots him take out things along the way, like some of the cash then her passport as well as a yellow sleeve that she spots hanging out of the bag before he shoves it back inside. The walking continues, at no point this tall pickpocket wearing a similarly brown overcoat with black pants and black loafers turns around, it's like he's on a mission; following a prescribed path like the trains she was riding before. It seems it about 30 minutes until he does something different. He walks along the side of a back street just as normal, except he takes off her backpack and tosses it up into an open first floor window. She can't see anyone go to grab it, but he continues on like he is on a casual stroll. She wanted revenge but she has no time for that, she looks up at the open window and then down at the front door. That is her obstacle.

She takes one of the hairpins from her wig out slowly so that no hair spills out and bends it to pick the lock. There is no one in sight along this street so no one spots her enter inside this apartment. The inside seems run down and decrepit, the stairs are barely stairs with the water damaged timber ready to break at any moment. The plastered walls are swollen and musky from the water, it smells like soggy BO in this hallway. One whiff is enough for Penelope to stop breathing through her nose, she now focuses on the prize of regaining her bag. She lightly treads up the squeaky floorboards that strain even under her miniscule weight. Once she is up at the landing for the front door, she peers through the lock to check to see if anyone is inside. She then takes out her tablet at uses the camera to check through all of the gaps for any sign of an occupant. Once she is satisfied by her checks she uses the hairpin to once again manufacture a key that opens the door. She opens it slowly just in case she has missed anyone.

"Don't move." A low French voice says from the corner of the room. Penelope didn't see this neatly dressed weasel relaxing in his deck chair placed in the corner while he cradles a gun in his lap along with a large white binder book filled with paper. His thin clear glasses catch the light from the sun as he turns to look out of the rom briefly.

"Now, just walk in slowly and shut the door, quietly." He explains slowly from the comfort of his deck chair. Penelope wants to run, but that gun looks heavily used. She does as he instructs, snibbing the door shut and turning to face him with anger.

"Sit down, you might be here a long time depending on how you want this to go." He explains. Awkwardly but still holding defiance in her, she sits down.

"Good." He says, holstering the gun into his trousers and going over to pick up the backpack so he can analyse it's contents in front of her. He slowly unzips the main pocket, doing it to make her more pissed off and to annoy her further.

"You have a passport, I'll be taking that; Some cash, probably proceeds of crime; a yellow and black tracksuit pant combination," He says out loud and pauses to think of a reason why they are here. "Just in case you want to go jogging in Paris, I'll admit there are many places to do it." He says checking the other pockets for any items but they are empty. He tosses the bag back to Penelope who doesn't move as it lands on her chest but she then throws it back behind her out of her transferred hate for this weasel.

"Madame, what have you done with your hair? It looked so good in the pictures." He taunts towards her as he walks slowly towards her. "Let me take that, awful and distasteful wig away." He says, as he bends down to touch her fake hair, he sees Penelope twitching slightly; it is enough for him to draw is gun. He needs not give a warning. This act only infuriates Penelope even more as the short black hair gives way to her natural long blonde hair that falls down around her face but she puts it all behind her.

"Vous êtes parfait ma chérie." He whispers to her before he turns to his chair and his binder.

"You must know who I belong to and what I have to do; from what I read about you, you should be smart enough to know yes?" He asks as he sits down in the chair again and opens his binder. Penelope doesn't respond, the amount of hatred for him is approaching Bentley levels.

"Fair enough, you're angry at me for expertly baiting you here so I will let you off this once. I am the lead agent in a case that no doubt you have heard of before, my unit isn't accountable for their actions and, according to the police or government, doesn't exist; so we can get away with things just like that perfect stunt they pulled on you. I only want two things, one is the Mona Lisa and the second are any Cooper relatives because we suspect they have had kids who they are training to become future pains in our side. You, my sweet, sweet girl, are going to, no you will help us find them and restore the world's most famous work of art back to where it belongs." He explains with some arrogance that really makes Penelope even angrier. But the irony of what he is saying is priceless for her, the fact they are searching for Cooper relatives and yet one is barely 10 metres away from him. But this weasel agent takes out a sheet from his piece of paper, it is a full page photo in the dark.

"Do you know where this place is?" He says, showing her the photo. She remains silent still.

"This is a remote log cabin in Sweden where we found those Coopers but they got away, story of their life." He mutters. "Did you know this happened?" He asks. Penelope remains silent. The weasel checks his expensive watch.

"The car's coming in 12 minutes so you better say something here or it's going to be a lot more painful there." He warns.

"Come on, we were going so well together. Just say yes, or no. Even a three year old can do that without thinking." He says, it doesn't change anything. "Fine, I'll save the questions for later when you are at the station in a cell in handcuffs and a large gorilla drops the soap in front of you and asks you to pick it up. Ha ha," He chuckles to himself with his perverted sense of humour. "Like I say again for the last time, you say things now, it will be easier for you at the station. If you don't you may have to pick up more than just soap." He warns. "Like I said, for 11 minutes we can just sit here like Buddhist monks meditating on the floor or you can talk and this will be a better experience for the both of us." He concludes. They do indeed sit there in silence but Penelope can see the weasel is very fidgety, like the lack of aural stimulation is painful and has to move his hands and look around quickly with his eyes darting from place to place. Penelope comforts herself by imagining all the possible ways he could be ground up in a giant mincer.

A car horn breaks the silence between them. The weasel gets up and looks down to the street, it is time.

"Get up." He says, pointing the gun at her. She gets up slowly, like it's such a big effort for her. He waves the gun to move her forward in order to get her to open the door. The weasel moves closer, holding his things in his left arm and the gun pointed at her back in the other. She walks slowly down the stairs that still creak on every step. Before the front door opens he holsters the gun and tucks it away to conceal the weapon from passers by. He grabs her to restrain her from moving off as they walk outside onto the footbath with a dark grey van waiting outside. Now is the moment and Penelope seizes it as she turns her leg to put this agent on the ground. As soon as she does this she runs back into the safety of the building before the weasel or the sliding doors of the van are opened to allow his 3 colleagues to get a shot off.

"Get her!" The weasel shouts as he picks himself up off the ground and watches as his colleagues open the door and race up the stairs. Penelope has gotten out of sight but she continues to run up the stairs at full pace, fearful of the others chasing her from below. Every step she vaults seems like an even more difficult challenge but the 5 flights are completed and she gets up onto the roof of the building, the sun getting low behind her casts a long shadow on everything that gets in the suns path. But there's no time to admire this sight as she races along the roof to find someplace to get away. She spots an enclave in the centre of the building, she spots the water drainage pipe on the other side, at least 5 metres away from her but she instinctively leaps for it, jumping as far as possible and landing a floor below on the pipe. She doesn't let the heights get to her, that's the least of her problems. She slides down the grey pipe, ignoring those who may or may not have seen her from their windows.

On the roof, the chasing pack arrives but can't see any clues as to where their target has gone. They look around to anywhere that could be an escape route. They run along the edge of the building, searching for a door or any ladders that could have been used. But their searching is broken by a loud crash coming from ground level, the sound of something banging against metal. They look down the edge and see their suspect picking herself up from the ground and giving a small look up where their eyes meet.

She has fallen about one story onto the top of a metal outdoor table that is now on it's side. She just caught something on the pipe and just like that, she fell. When Penelope looks back up at the roof, she spots the small figures of her chasing pack drawing their guns. She moves quickly to the back wall, decreasing the angle they can shoot at. She feels the wall that she is pressing herself against, but it's not a wall, it's a glass door. She feels for the handle and the locker as a bullet crashes off the decorative concrete ledge above and onto the sidewall. No sound is made that echoes into the city, for these guns are powered by magnets. The door handle turns and the lock opens, it was already unlocked. She quickly slips inside into this dark room, no one must be home. The agents now race back down to the stairs to begin their climb down to the ground floor.

Inside this backroom filled with boxes she sneaks around, careful not to make a sound. She reaches the ajar door where she takes a peak into the art galley that she has found herself in. It is completely quiet inside the very white and bland room with art waiting to be sold. The desk to the right, which holds a very bored tenant, is her only obstacle; that and the security cameras that are in each corner. Penelope decides that going straight out isn't the best course of action and head back into the storeroom to find something to cut the power. But these shelves are full of overstuffed boxes that make this task insurmountable. But when she tries to take a look around she hears the sound of a door slamming open in the front followed by loud shouting.

"We know you are in there, come out with your hands up." The weasel shouts from inside the shop. Instantly she goes back outside, not wanting to give in to their demands. The only way now is up as she looks at that same pipe and jumps up to attach herself to it. She rushes as fast she as she can upwards but when she reaches 2 stories high, the sound of the back door slamming open followed by the shuffling of footsteps tells her she is about to be caught.

"Stop now or I will shoot you!" The weasel says. Penelope takes a look down and sees the team of 4 all at the bottom. Penelope is frozen in the middle, not wanting to give in but not wanting to be shot. She has figured out that this agent is unlike others, it seems he is more willing to pull the trigger than just flash it around like a toy.

"Come down slowly!" He shouts. Another quick glance shows that he is still got his finger on the trigger. Penelope does start to move down but the weasel is too itchy to use his gun and fires, hitting the pipe just above her. Suddenly it feels like she can't let go of the pipe, her hands and legs won't let go for a brief instant, even if she thinks otherwise. Penelope looks above at the hole in the copper pipe above her. She peers inside and sees, not a bullet, but a very different projectile.

"Yes, 9mm electric bullets are wonderful and all and you can see more if you stay up there." The weasel warns. This guy means business. Slowly she goes down, much slower than before in order to not get shocked. As soon as her feet are in reach of the agents, she is pulled down and bound up with zip ties and gags.

"You're going to be of much help to us." The weasel says before she is lifted off the ground by the 4 of them, being led through the art galley and out into the van where she is sat down on the cold metal bench in the back, along with 2 other agents who watch her every move as they trundle along through the streets of Paris.


	11. Conversations of a Thief

**Chapter 10 – Conversations of a thief**

**The Apartment, Paris, France. 6:17pm 28****th**** April 2022.**

Sitting down to some dinner are the Cooper's. Carmelita has utilised what ingredients Joey gave them when they arrived yesterday to make some steak with vegetables. The sun is setting and the shutters have been closed to allow on the artificial glow of the light above paint the room in a yellowish white glow. They sit in silence while they eat tonight. Normally it would be Alex bragging about what new moves Sly had taught him and how far he could jump from branches in the trees, followed by some sort of spiel from Sly or Carmelita about their condition in terms of staying out of trouble. No such words are said here, just the chowing down of food and the quick glances at each other to see what the other is doing. This silence is broken by a knock at the door, which Sly goes to receive. He first looks through the peephole in the door to check this person's identity, it is Joey.

"Just let me in." He says from the outside. Sly does oblige and opens the door for him. Joey looks to the left and sees the family all at the dinner table.

"This is a bad time isn't it? I'll come back later." Joey says, retreating into the doorway.

"No, it's okay." Sly consoles Joey. "You hungry?"

"Nah, just ate thanks. Hey kids, Carmelita." Joey says to the family. The two kids just give a small wave and then return to eating.

"Can I speak to you in private?" Joey whispers to Sly who bends down to listen. Carmelita becomes slightly suspicious.

"It's there a problem?" Sly asks.

"Well, depends how you look at it. It could be good one hand or I could have made the worst possible deflection of concern ever, of course it's a problem." Joey explains. Carmelita gets out of her chair and the kids stop eating, they realise something must be up. Her presence around them makes Joey quake slightly; it makes him cave in to the pressure.

"Why are you here?" Carmelita asks.

"Well, it's, it's just a small problem I feel you may need to know about." Joey explains but as Carmelita towers over him her becomes more nervous. "Maybe you should hear it as well." Joey concludes.

"Just say it out loud." Carmelita says back.

"I don't want them to know about this, it's gonna distress them and… You know what, they can't hear this. Just you two, with me, in… that bedroom over there." Joey points towards Erin's bedroom.

Finally they move off into a private space, but nothing is private in this age, the two young racoons eavesdrop on the outside of her bedroom, pressing their ears against any gaps that they can get to. They can't hear anything at first but they certainly hear Sly's loud concerning remark.

"She's been… how does that happen?" Sly asks desperately.

"I just saw it for myself. I've seen pictures of her being escorted into the police station." Joey explains.

"Where are these pictures?" Carmelita asks.

"I left them back across the street. I came here to tell you straight away." Joel explains.

"And how did you get them?" Carmelita interrogates. Joey hesitates for a second then answers.

"They just came onto my computer in an email, the address was blocked and everything." Joey explains.

"Didn't you stop to think that someone is about to trick us into going into the open like a fish swimming onto a hook with bait?" Carmelita loudly shouts to Joey, her temper rising.

"Now that you think of it…" Joey mutters under his breath, still nervous of her presence.

"Oh now you think of it, you get sent random photos which show Penelope, who is in Amsterdam, being captured at a police station in Paris. Don't you stop to think; These are just fakes and put them in the trash can?" Carmelita asks at only a fraction of her potential fury.

"I'll just go now." Joey says, quickly reaching for the door. The kids hear this and jump back into their seats and pretend they are just sitting there eating quietly. Joey rushes out of the room and out of the house before their parents emerge from Erin's bedroom. When they do come out, Alex and Erin just pretend they are eating but Carmelita isn't stupid. She can see their shadows underneath the doorframe blocking out the light from the living room whilst she was in there.

"It's nothing." She succinctly explains calmly, the kids think otherwise.

"Then why were you shouting?" Alex asks. "Why were you angry?" It's turn that Carmelita has tried to calm down whilst she was around the kids, being angry and fiery isn't the best form of parenting in existence.

"It's just, sometimes I get easy frustrated." Carmelita replies.

"What wrong with Penelope?" Erin asks. They have never seen her before, they have only heard about her whenever Bentley came over to visit, which wasn't often. She was only mentioned when Bentley was taking about some new invention they had created.

"Nothing, it's just a misunderstanding." She replies back, beginning to clear the table. The kids begin to not help but realise they are without the presence of their father.

**Across the road**

The inside of this apartment block is more modern. The staircase, just having been varnished, reflects the hanging lamps that hang from the stairs above. The teak floorboards look like they have just been redone along with the white walls that look like they have just been painted. Each step up these steps is much smoother for Joey than the opposite one he has just climbed down; he thinks he is lucky to live in the better apartment.

"New note, never question Carmelita." He mutters to himself as he takes out the key from his pocket and opens the door to reveal an intruder inside.

"Sly, what are you doing on there?' He asks, running over to the raccoon that is using his laptop computer positioned on a desk.

"When did you receive the pictures?" He asks, staring at them on the screen. Joey reaches across Sly and opens up the email service and shows the culprit email. It says '6:10pm'.

"Satisfied?" Joey asks.

"Can you call Bentley? I want to check to see if she is with him." Sly asks.

"He told me not to call him unless it's an emergency." Joey says.

"I say this is an emergency, so can you dial him up?" Sly asks again.

"Ah, just let me get out of…" Joey says as he tries to feel for the mobile phone in his pocket. Sly just smugly hands it to him with an open palm. Joey isn't exactly pleased with him doing that stunt.

"Still, haven't lost it I see." Joey says as he takes the phone back and dials the correct set of numbers, followed by some more numbers for the passwords that are in place to get those who may have dialled it accidentally to go away. Joey passes the phone across to Sly who holds it to his ear.

On the other side of the connection, Bentley is in no sane state right now. He sits in his wheelchair in his ghostly coat of white, waiting for her to come back. His mind couldn't be wrestled away from these thoughts. Normally he could just forget about bad thoughts as he delved into another project, but this is different. The lab is silent, normally it would be them continuing into the evening, busy with a new device over some reheated frozen pizza that has been made differently to normal food. It no longer contains the fats and carbs that would make some people bloat or feel off. This food is engineered to contain the right amounts of all nutrients needed to be healthy, without reducing the taste. Tonight, he is no mood for food, he is no mood for anything. The cellular phone incorporated into his chair rings. It says Joey is calling from the holographic screen pictured in front of him, so he does take this call.

Sly waits for some response from Bentley but he takes the lead to start this conversation.

"Are you there Bentley?" Sly asks. More silence.

"Is Penelope there?" Sly asks. This gets Bentley's attention.

"It's my fault!" He moans into the phone.

"Whoa Bentley, back up for a second there. What's happened?" Sly asks.

"It was just one mistake and it seems nothing I can make." Bentley says.

"I didn't do the cryptic crossword today so plain English might help here." Sly jokes, trying to lighten up his mood. But Bentley remains silent.

"It's only one thing but it's seems it was everything." Bentley says.

"Remember, I'm not as smart as you." Sly jokes again, but that smile from Sly's face quickly disappears into guilt and concern as he hears the crying of his friend through the airwaves.

"She's gone!" Bentley bellows followed by more sniffling and sobbing.

"I think I might know where she is." Sly says, turning to the computer screen.

"You do?" Bentley says, instantly snapping out of his crying and into his more composed self, only with tears still draining down his face. "Tell me!"

Suddenly Sly thinks two moves ahead for a second, a feat he doesn't pull off every so often. If he did tell Bentley about what happened with Penelope, it would make him even more sad then he is right now and cause him to go onto an uncontrollable bout of sobbing; with a healthy serving of guilt and then blaming himself.

"She's in Paris." Sly replies, still telling the truth, but not the whole truth.

"How do you know? Do you know where exactly?" Bentley says, moving his chair to get his things ready.

"I don't know exactly, all I've heard is just stories." Sly says, trying to deflect his inquiries.

"Who told them and where? I'm going to find her." Bentley says with intent.

"Look, I've got it under control. I'll get her back for you." Sly postulates.

"No, you've got to stay hidden, I can't lose both of you." Bentley worries.

"You don't seem to be in any shape to go out and handle this yourself. Save yourself the trip and let us Paris-side handle this." Sly reiterates.

"Get Joey to do it, you have to stay hidden." Bentley warns again. "Put Joey on the phone."

"Speaking." Joey says after Sly hands off the phone to him.

"Can you go do this mission please? Just convince Sly you can do it." Bentley explains.

"I'm sure Sly is better at this than I am. Besides, she's not my half, half, half, half sister." Joey answers. Bentley is fuming having been smart assed by someone of a lesser intelligence.

"But you've got to do this for me so Sly does not get caught." Bentley says, stressing every single word separately.

"I'll get it done." Joey says before hanging up the phone quickly, he thinks that it could turn ugly within the conversation.

"He's just a bit angry sometimes if he doesn't get his way." Joey says.

"Maybe a bit." Sly comments, not wanting to paint his friend in a bad light. "He's just like that."

"And that's the way it is." Joey finishes. Sly gives a small chuckle at that expert sentence finishing, but he turns back to the black and white security photos that are still on the computer, and looks at the vacant email address on the receivers end. Despite the isolation, Sly still knows a thing or two about computers having had a dad that was crazy about them and a friend who is even crazier about them. He takes the mouse and highlights the spot where the email address of the sender should be and, sure enough, the white text becomes visible.

"You said she was in the police station?" Sly asks to Joey, who is getting something else to eat.

"Yeah, that's what it looks like." He replies, pulling out a carton of milk and a glass.

"I think I have found more information about our informant." Sly says, busy working away at the keyboard.

"That's no surprise." Joey comments flatly, pouring the milk into the glass.

"Why?" Sly asks as he opens up a webpage.

"You're the best in the world, I knew you'd find something." Joey says.

"Used to be." Sly corrects, inputting the email address into a reverse IP finder.

"On my end, I haven't heard of anyone that's done, nearly as much stuff as you have." Joey explains, walking back over to Sly.

"You don't have to flatter me, my time has past, I've stolen everything that I've wanted, I've had my fair share of time at the top and now, now it's time for someone else to take over." Sly says, looking back out of the window towards his children across the street who are now watching the TV.

"You have more important things to think about." Joey says. Watching as Sly takes this found IP address and inputs it into a locator.

"3 of them actually." Sly says, watching as the locator picks out the location of the computer it was sent from. "There, it was from the police station." Sly concludes.

"So she must be there right now. But that also means that they know I'm here and with you, they might even be watching us right now." Joey starts.

"Just calm down." Sly says, being completely relaxed about the situation. "No one's going to be coming after me right now, you swept the place right?" Sly asks.

"It's clean, same as yours." Joey answers.

"Good." Sly says. "I better get back to my family now, they don't know I'm here."

"Sure, just leave me with the mission." Joey says sarcastically.

"It won't be a problem will it?" Sly asks, standing next to the open window. "If you need some help, I'm always waiting."

"Sure, it's…" Joey says before looking back towards the window to find his friend is not there, when he checks the window, he can't seem either. So the wallaby shuts the window and seals out the progressively colder night. He admires Sly, the best thief in the world possessing skills and tricks no one else could. It makes him feel very lucky, as a seasoned thief himself, to even be near with him. Let alone talk with him and converse as if they had known each other for years, which they have. But there is still that little sense of awe and presence whenever he is in the same room as him; unlike when he is stealing something, in which case, he has no presence at all.


	12. Profound Underground

**Chapter 11 – Profound Underground**

**Paris, France. 8:27pm 28****th**** April 2022. **

Paris at night seems like a distant place from the daytime. All the restaurants are being emptied as bars and nightclubs are being filled up by patrons wanting to dance on into the Friday night. They spread out onto the footpaths and onto the side streets where they can all sit or stand and talk while downing the beverage of their choice. The front lights of boutique shops contrast the darkness of the outside with the brightness of the inside that shines onto the window displays of fashion and other goods. It seems as if it is not even possible to find a quiet spot in this city, as every inch of space has been used up for establishments of some kind. Even from 5 stories above the ground, watching the bustling nightlife below, the sound seems to rise up from the ground like steam for Joey as he cases the police station appaerently holding Penelope. It is the same building that Sly first went into all those years ago as an 18 year old, but much has changed since then. It has become more like a fortress with it's bullet proof windows and advanced security systems to prevent the entry of those wanting in or out without authorisation. Joey makes note of the rooms that he can see containing an officer, they are the places he wants to avoid, all the lights are still on in the rooms that he can see from his rooftop position opposite the building. But none contain his objective.

That is because she is not contained in the offices of officers on duty in Paris, but in the underground, the area which seems mysterious to the plain police officers working in the building each day. Each of them has their suspicions on the true purpose of this cordoned off area below the city. A set of locked double doors is their only connection to this area. They never see anyone walk in or out of those doors, nor anyone try to unlock it's biometric security system. They don't even know how they get in or out, or even if there is actually something happening below them at all. Maybe it could be some cruel trick to motivate the workforce, such are the perceptions of those unfit to enter it's sanctum.

However, what it really contains is nothing special or even noteworthy. In fact, this small team of 6 agents working to recover the Mona Lisa is heavily underfunded. This dimly lit basement underneath the Paris police station is all that they could afford to use, heaps of files rest in cardboard boxes placed on fold out tables that rest on the concrete floor. Exposed wires are everywhere, cables of all thicknesses and type run in large bundles held together with zip ties on the ground and along the roof where they hang like power lines from the various pipes that run along the roof. The equipment that they have is obsolete by the standards of the day. The computers they were given where the ones given 8 years ago when this team was created. Some have brought in new ones, but at their own expense. There is barely enough room for the six of them to properly operate with themselves being cramped inside their small cubicles like workstations surrounded by masses of paper and electronics. There is even less space for Penelope in the tiny storeroom which serves now as a makeshift prison for her. From inside this room, there are even more files and papers staked on industrial metal shelves on 3 sides except for the door. There are cables and hard disks of various types along with broken computer parts all lit up my a single LED light globe in the ceiling. The lock preventing her exit is in the form of a simple metal bar that slips onto a catch from the outside, where a padlock locks the mechanism into place. She can hear the conversations relatively easily because of the concrete walls reverberating the sound in this basement and the fact that the door isn't sealed properly, a one centimetre gap on the side allows her to see a bit outside and allow the sound in as well. The weasel doesn't even have to open the door to converse with her.

"I know where your friend is hiding." The weasel taunts. Penelope thinks he is bluffing.

"Why am I here then?" Penelope asks jokingly.

"Because I don't know the location of Sly Cooper!" He shouts into the gap, the sound echoes around the office, disturbing the work of his colleagues. Penelope thinks he has just contradicted himself.

"You think I have more then one friend?" Penelope asks.

"We've got a lot of it mapped out, everyone you have ever been associated with is being looked at to get, perhaps, some leverage; Shall we say?" The weasel comments. She hears his footsteps walk away from the door and then quickly back again. "Just look at this." He says, slipping in a USB 2.0 through the gap that says 8 GB on it; A very outdated technology by her standards.

"There should be some device you can use it on somewhere in there." He explains to Penelope. "David, didn't you have that old laptop? Where did you put that?" The weasel asks to his colleague at his desk.

"It's in there somewhere." David shouts at the door in his northern English accent. "Try on the back shelving, top level on the right; or was it the left? That's where we keep the electronics right?" He asks now towards the weasel.

"No, we keep the broken electronics on the top shelf, obsolete items go on the bottom shelf on the left in the cardboard box that says 'obsolete items'." He irately explains.

"It's too old and the hard disk has basically killed itself so it's broken okay." David explains. This is like gold for Penelope, a weakness to exploit.

"No, I told you to replace it with that 250GB hard drive I showed to you 2 days ago." The weasel explains.

"Without that data it's just worthless now." David explains. The weasel outside is face-palming to hard that one isn't enough. The technological stupidity of some of his workers is infuriating at times.

"That's why we keep backups, use the backups to copy the files that you need onto the new one." He exasperatingly explains. There is a silence that Penelope can sense, she realises the comedy gold that is about to happen.

"You didn't keep a backup?" The weasel asks, on the tipping point of anger.

"AHHHHHHHHHH" He shouts as Penelope hears boxes being flung off desks his fists banging against a table.

"How could you not keep a backup? It's basically the golden rule of working with data." He shouts.

"It was working fine the whole time before it broke." David explains.

"I could fire you, I could, I really could for doing this but no, I have absolutely no one wanting to work on this dead end case that could replace you, not even anyone. It has been the worst case I have ever been assigned to for the past 8 years and now when we finally have the breakthrough that could finally get all of us out of this stupid investigation, you go and tell me this!" He tirades across the room.

"Get her to fix it, she's a computer genius." David says. Penelope pays more attention.

"That, is a really, really good idea." He says, calming himself down slightly. "Let's try now. Penelope, can you recover some really sensitive data we only have one copy of that might lead to not only your friends but your own arrest?" He sarcastically asks.

"Sure." She says, just doing it to further piss him off. David outside makes a smug smile.

"The things I do…" The weasel says to himself as he stamps his way across to the door, where he slides the computer and the broken hard drive through the crack.

"Now if you could do that for me; that would be delightful." The weasel sarcastically continues.

"No Problem." Penelope says, playing along for her own enjoyment.

"Perfect. See, you didn't screw up at all, some things can be fixed until it's good as new." He continues on. Penelope starts to get to work on the computer in order to look at what they have found but that is broken sharply by the sound of bone against bone, followed by the slight gasp of the co workers under their breaths before they continue on with their menial tasks. They don't want to interfere with their slightly sadistic boss otherwise, who knows what they might have coming for them? Penelope slowly puts down the hard drive that she was inspecting and instead listens in to the horror outside.

"That one may take a little longer to fix." The weasel comments casually towards David who is now crouching over the floor, holding his jaw where he hit him. He is lucky it isn't broken.

"Don't take it so hard on yourself, you had it coming." The weasel says again over the attempted muffled shouting of David. Penelope has gone silent and gone back to figuring out what this computer can still do. She boots it up, but the starter disk has corrupted so it doesn't progress. She looks back up to the endless array of junk in this storage cupboard that seems to tower over he whilst she sits down. She gets up and her eyes dart around the place, looking for a replacement disk that has an operating system that can be used. Instead, she turns to one of the old laptops the shelf. She doesn't even need to try to boot this one up just yet, judging from the layer of dust on the screen, it has been here for a long period of time so the battery will be flat. Finding the cable that can charge it up though seems like an insurmountable challenge, given that there are tens of boxes with cables stuffed inside to create an indecipherable entanglement of wire. Given that she has nothing else that can be done and the fact she is stuck in here, she proceeds with the task, going from each box and checking all the cables to find the right one. As she proceeds with this task, she tries to listen out for any sounds or snippets of information that might be useful to her, but the office is terrifyingly quiet.

15 minutes later, which seemed like a flash for her, she catches the glint of light from a stack of CD's that lie in unorganised piles in the back. She turns her head to look and picks out the one copy of the operating system she needs out of the hundreds of other useless disks. Being around computers a lot does that to a person. She puts the unused computer back and loads up the target computer with this copy of the OS. She waits for the ridiculously long boot time of this old laptop, Penelope is so used to everything loading in under a millisecond in Bentley's lab where a quantum computer now resides. But with this 8 year old laptop with a pitiful 2GHz processing speed and loathsome 4GB of memory makes her feel slightly sorry for them for being subjected to such inferior technology. But then she remembers they are holding her captive and erases that thought and gets back to waiting. The basement is still eerily silent outside, she takes a look outside the gap and sees the lights on and everything left as it was. She briefly thinks of escape but that's not possible unless she could break the steel deadbolt preventing her exit. She looks back at the screen and finally the computer has loaded, but it doesn't recognise the broken hard drive. She tries to utilise the on board diagnostic systems but they are of no use. Only a more powerful program could recover some of the data, if any at all.

She now turns to the functionality of the computer, to see if she could call for help. She tries to find a Wi-Fi signal but there are none in this basement. How could they not have Wi-Fi? She thinks to herself. But a quick look outside reveal why, there is a blue cable running along the roof along with may other cables, it is the Ethernet cable. They must be really neglected if they have to use this outdated technology. Suddenly, the silence is broken as frantic steps rush back in the office. She have hopes it's Sly, Joey or someone else coming to free her; but she prepares for the worst. The loud knocking of the steel lock as the padlock is opened and the steel deadbolt raised seems like muffled hammer blows to her on the inside. The door swing open and she looks out but before she has anytime to recognise who has just done it, she feels a piercing pain in her chest from the two barbs that have stuck her. When she does see who has shot them, she knows that it isn't good.

"Don't do anything drastic or I press the trigger." The weasel sadistically says. The trigger will deliver 50,000 volts of electricity down the wires from the Taser to the barbs that now act as electrodes, providing an electrical path across her chest. "Get up and walk that way." He says, pointing to the right, away from the main door. She has so much resentment and anger for this borderline psychotic agent that makes her want with all of the possible fury she could muster to knock the life out of him, knock it out in a single blow. But he is taking paranoia level precautions around her, making sure to keep his distance and having the finger always on the trigger at all times, like he is afraid of her, like he knows that she is superior in terms of fighting and intelligence.


	13. 30 Minutes Earlier

**Chapter 12 –**__**30 Minutes Earlier**

The station is right there in front of him. It just looks like another typical Parisian building on the outside with it's fancy cornices and sandstone brick façade, but on the inside, he knows it's anything but. Standing from the opposite building on the flat roof peering down into the relatively bright windows of the police station. He sees no shadows from the building obscuring the light which mean they either don't care about their electricity usage or they are just not nearby. It's a difficult situation for him. Without the direct line of sight or intelligence to help him, it will be risky to try to go through one of the windows. The other option is the roof, he has already ruled out the ground floor, so, he prepares for a jump. Joey walks slowly back to the edge of the building to give himself as much run up as possible. While this 10 metre gap would be off limits almost everyone, it is not an impossibility for Joey. He just has the natural ability of long distance jumping that comes with being a wallaby. He sails across the abyss, blind to the casual observer, and performs a forward roll to slow down on the other side.

He spots his 2 choices; one of which is the service stairway that would lead straight into the top floor where he would begin his search. The second option is via the air conditioning duct that could give him a view inside with more secrecy but less freedom. He makes up a plan on the spot, use the air conditioning vent to do some recon then enter inside once he knows the correct location of Penelope. So, by loosening the grate on the venting system, he has access. He braces himself against the sidewalls to control his descent as he goes through the sharp bend that takes him from horizontal to vertical. What he didn't expect was there to be an extensive laser system in the venting system, there were so many red lasers that they almost blended into one bright red light from the height he was at. Immediately he retreats back onto the roof and replaces the grate.

"Well that sucks." He comments to himself. "Guess they want me on the inside then." He says as he looks at the hatch that leads onto the roof. The padlock is easily picked away and the metal hatch is lifted up by the straining Joey, it was much heavier than he thought. Slowly, he has to exert the same strength, or lack of it, to lower it quietly onto it's latch as he stands on a fold out ladder that leads into a storage attic. In the total darkness, he walks slowly and feels his way around the room amongst the piles boxes of papers and old equipment. He is searching for the light or the door that leads down into the main building.

The light turns on and he quickly looks at his surroundings, he knows it's not him that has turned it on so he has to hide. Quickly, he dives behind some boxes that have been piled high up to the ceiling. The sound of ill-fitting high heels is heard on the wooden floor boards echoing around this confined space.

"Where did you put the McKenzie case files?" A tired female voice asks back to the door.

"Down the bottom on the left on top of the pile." A faint older male voice shouts. A sigh of exasperation is heard from the intruder by Joey who can just see her shadow on the floor from his position. Silently, he creeps around the boxes to get a better look and to see if he can get his hands on some key cards or plain keys.

"Be more specific." She shouts back with a slight hint of annoyance at this vagueness. No inspector, let alone their secretary could find something with those instructions.

"I can't be any clearer than that." He shouts back up to the top. Joey now spots the secretary, looking at boxes where she thinks her case files are.

"Come on, I haven't got all night." He shouts, frustrated at her incompetence, it's his 4th secretary in 6 months and not one of them can do a simple task like this he thinks. Joey meanwhile uses this worry and confusion to quickly make his move. As she moves to another pile of boxes, Joey swoops out from cover and enters his hand into her pockets, relieving her only of a keycard before dashing behind another set of boxes. Now, Joey tries to move towards the door on the left hand side behind the piles of boxes. He hears the sound of metal creaking over the heavy breathing of the slightly overweight inspector.

"You had to make to make me get it myself." He comments in between breaths once he has ascended the final rung.

"It isn't where you told me it is." She responds. Joey starts to creep closer to the door. There is a pause where Joey peaks from behind the boxes to see the inspector rummaging through a box and lifting out a file. Joey uses this distraction to sneak out into the open gap in the ceiling.

"Not that hard." The inspector says faintly as Joey leaps out into the gap, getting one foot on top of the ladder but not sticking the landing, it cause the ladder to tilt on it's side. Joey lands on the other foot and catches the A framed ladder before it makes a loud crash and alerts everyone to his presence. Quickly he pushes the ladder back up to it's upright position and darts away towards cover in the form of an empty cubicle. They must be prolific electricity wasters. Joey hears the metal rungs of the ladder strain underneath their weight. Joey hopes that one of them won't come to sit at this desk; otherwise it could be a long and very stationary night. Luckily, he hears the ladder being removed and folded back together with a loud metallic crash and placed back inside a storage closet. Joey waits until there is absolutely no sound before he pokes his head out from under the desk. Slowly he gets up and regathers his position; the group of 8 cubicles in this area with their red partitions stands out against the plain white walls that seem to surround all parts of this room. Now the light to this area goes off and he is plunged into darkness again, just the way he wants it. But not total darkness this time, he can still slowly sneak around as he searches for another way down.

He finds another very unconventional solution, much to his liking, a rubbish chute that would seem to go all the way down to the basement levels. He checks the inside to make sure there aren't any lasers that might exist inside, Joey is a still a tiny bit spooked from that unknown level of security. His very slight body fits inside this opening where he braces against the sides just as he did with the air conditioning vent. There is a pungent odour that seems to rise up from the bottom that almost activates the gag reflex that would coat the side walls with his vomit, but he just holds his breath while he pulls his shirt over his mouth and nose, not wanting to smell or taste this repulsive smell. Slowly he lowers himself down, with only the light at the bottom from the service level illuminating his trek downwards. The next three levels seem to be more active, he can see the shadows of those who walk past the cover to the chute, it is his only way to look inside. So he continues lower and lower until he reaches the last floor, which appears to be the ground floor. There is a long drop between this level and the open dumpster that is below him. He keeps going in lower and lower; he thinks he hears some sort of commotion halfway down. He thinks it must be the smell messing up his brain and thinking. Besides there is no rubbish chute here unlike the other levels, therefore there must be no level. Cleverly, he takes out a mobile phone and holds it in his hand with the camera to look for anyone that may be underneath. After a quick scan, the answer is no. So he swings on the edge of the shaft and lands to the side of the dumpster.

Joey now has a mental block; he doesn't know how else to get into the police station to search for Penelope so he uses his phone to call for some help. He tries to dial the number but there is no reception this far down. So Joey goes up to a cargo lift, mainly used to lift the large dumpster up to surface so that is can be collected and it's waste removed, and uses the steel bar ladder to climb his way out of the room and bring himself back up into an alleyway that is being partially blocked by a black van to his left. Joey re dials the phone when he gets out and waits for Sly to pick up, It takes a few seconds before the reassuring voice of this ex-master thief comforts him.

"Hello." Sly says, knowing exactly who it is.

"Hi yourself, do you have any ideas where she might be? It's like a fortress inside and I can't get inside to any of the main rooms." Joey asks quickly and quietly.

"Have you tried the rubbish chute?" Sly asks, he knows the place off by heart.

"Yeah." Joey says reluctantly.

"You'll need to take a bath before you step back inside the apartment again." Sly half jokes half instructs.

"Time's not on my side here, just give me ideas." Joey says.

"Okay, top floor is basically just high ranking officers offices, the next floors are just cubicles full of regular policemen and women, the basement is just a storage closet and below that should be the service level." Sly describes.

"What basement?" Joey asks.

"Just below the ground floor, it's a storage closet where they keep most of their files and old equipment, the others would be in the attic." Sly explains.

"There's no basement here, when I was going down the rubbish chute, there were no deposit slits between the ground floor and the service level." Joey explains quickly.

"They must have changed it since I was last there." Sly explains. "You'll find a way, just take your time." Sly says as Joey looks and sees a tired young woman walking towards him.

"Okay, bye." Joey quickly says before hanging up and slipping the phone into his pocket.

"This is a restricted area you know." She says.

"I'm just going." Joey says, about to walk off.

"But I'm not going to tell, you're just a tourist after all." She remarks, but Joey is not thinking about that; a more, primitive urge has taken over.

"Listen, I've had a rough day and you look like you could use a good night out. So, you and me for the night?" She asks. All of Joey's consciousness wants to say no.

"Sure, where do you want to go?" Joey asks. He almost wants to punch himself for doing that.

"I don't know," She says. "But we'll find somewhere to go." She answers with a small chuckle to kill the tension. They start to walk their way out of the alley.

"Your accent is funny, where is that from?" She says as they walk beside the van.

"Australia." Joey answers, walking slightly ahead. He walks past the van where someone leaps out of the open back doors and lands straight on the unsuspecting Joey, tackling him to the ground. They wrestle for a quick few seconds but it is quelled soon after when Joey realises that he has been played; so very, very played.

"Nope, you've been in Sweden for about 8 years." She replies as Joey gets tied up with zip ties followed by ropes. He is hauled up off the ground by his assailant and placed so he is sitting upright facing the opening to the street that seems so far away. Out of a hatch on the side, presumably the same hatch that this police officer used he thinks, Penelope is being lead out like a dog with the thin wires like a leash and the barbs like a collar. When she looks outside she sees Joey, fully tied down in the back of the van in this alleyway with two others surrounding him. When she sees him, it sends her some mixed emotions. The first being the hope that someone has tried to save her, the other is the disappointment that they have failed.

"Now, where is the Mona Lisa's location?" The weasel asks the visibly drained Joey, who has already been tortured for information, but has not been broken yet.

"5, 4, 3, 2, 1." The weasel counts down, Joey says nothing and therefore Penelope feels the intense pain of the electric shock in her as her muscles involuntarily contract violently. It goes away quickly but she is already on the hard tarmac looking like a fish out of water.

"Where is the Mona Lisa?" He asks again. No response, another shock for Penelope. Each one feels more painful than the last. Joey feel horrible for allowing this to happen, firstly for being caught in the first place and now to seeing his affiliate being shocked repeatedly in front of him.

"Ou est La Joconde?" He asks in French just to taunt him as he pulls out a gun, this time a real one, with real bullets that will really make a hole in whatever it is pointed at, which in this case, is her left foot. The cold barrel is pressed against the sneaker she is wearing whilst he holds the Taser in the other hand.

"Same question." He says. Joey is really distraught now on the inside, but still trying to remain composed on the outside. Judging from the lack of hesitation in Tasing Penelope, he thinks he won't have any qualms about putting a hole in her foot. A shrill tone stops everyone in their tracks, it's coming from Joey's pocket. One of his captors send his hand forcefully into his pocket and grabs out the phone and gives it to the weasel. He puts the phone on speaker and holsters the real gun whilst still putting his finger on the trigger of the Taser.

"You speak." The weasel says holding the phone in front of Joey's mouth as he presses the answer button.

"Hello." Joey says, trying to remain as composed as ever even know he is totally surrounded by these agents of some description.

"Listen, I've got some new information about the police station. The basement has been turned into some sort of makeshift headquarters for a secret operation of some kind, I don't know what it's for though yet." Sly explains.

"That's great." Joey says, starting to feel nervous.

"Are you, worried about something?" Sly asks, taking the hint of Joey's nervous tone.

"No, it's just a bit difficult, that's all." Joey explains, almost succumbing to the pressure of three faces who gaze down with expectation, totally blocking out Penelope's forced expression of defiance but inside she is afraid, those shocks are becoming more painful each time. The weasel turns off the microphone so he can give an instruction to Joey.

"Get him to tell you his location or she gets it." The weasel warns. He turns the microphone back on.

"So where are you at right now? I need to get this information to you right now." Joey asks.

"I'm on the move right now, how about I come to you?" Sly asks.

"How long will you be?" Joey asks.

"About 30 minutes, oh I'm about to go through a tunnel so I'll call you back in a minute okay." Sly says as he hangs up the phone. The weasel isn't impressed.

"Fine, we'll wait for your friend to call back but if you don't get his current and accurate location of either him or the Mona Lisa, It won't be only her getting the bullet, so you better make it good. If you need some extra motivation to get you through this little period of uncertainty, think of your life and how intact it is right now, because this will be your last chance to keep it that way. Just relax and keep breathing, don't stammer or mumble to him because he won't understand your words. Be concise and clear and straight to the point without arousing suspicion. You got that?" The weasel tirades to Joey.

"I think I've got the message." Joey says. The weasel put out the phone as if he is expecting it go off right then like a perfectly choreographed scene in a movie.

"It would have been much 'cooler' if it went off just then." The weasel jokes, it's not his forte. They wait another 5 seconds in silence before the phone dials up again.

"Sly, listen you've got to be more honest and quick with me here. You've got to get here fast." Joey frantically worries.

"I'm coming soon but first I'm taking Penelope out for a snack, I haven't seen her in years." Sly says. They all turn their heads behind them and realise the players have just been played. The Taser's 2 wires hang like ribbons against the ground attached to nothing. In Penelope's place is not that famous calling card that on any other day would be there, but not this time or indeed any time in the future. It simply is an empty alleyway with no physically shaken pink mouse sitting in the centre. The faces on all of the agents turn to shock, horror and an overwhelming sense of dumbfoundedness.

"Go, search for him." The weasel says to the other two agents quickly, sending the sprinting down and out of the alleyway.

"Since you failed your task and someone managed to get backup sent here, you'll have to pay a very heavy price." The weasel angrily warns as he reaches for his gun. He tries to grasp the handle but it isn't there either. So, in a fit of anger, his fist gets clenched up into a ball ready to be thrown at Joey's face. He tries to bring it forward but his arm is restrained by a hook, a carbon fibre hook on the end of a carbon fibre shaft being held by none other than Sly himself. He wears a trench coat with a black shirt underneath in order to stay in anonymity.

"You're pretty cut that I've ruined all of your plans and schemes; incessant torture, so 2013." Sly jokes. The weasel tries to punch this raccoon that has been the source of all his problems these past 8 years. It is a tired and blind punch that finds air.

"Just give it up now, I've got a family. I want peace and quiet so that they can be free from your constant harassing." Sly pleads.

"I'm afraid that's not how I work Mr. Cooper. You and all of your associates need to be punished for the legacy you have created. Because of you, theft is at an all time high. Pickpocketing is rife; no one wants to go to any tourist destinations because everyone is afraid they'll be mugged. And it's all because of your pathetic little speech to the world." The weasel explains. Sly didn't expect there to be such wide repercussions for his actions. "And when you combine that with an underfunded police force and people who don't want to see all of this crime. You get some very, very desperate people who will do anything to stop it. If you are true to your word, I'll have to see you only one more time. That's when I will retrieve the painting off you and send you to the deepest and darkest prison where you will be dead within a year." The weasel warns. Sly has a small internal chuckle to himself; he won't let that happen. The weasel now walks past Sly and Penelope, who is standing next to Sly, towards the hatch to his office.

"Take the night off, but tomorrow, we'll start again." He says, closing the hatch.

"Psst, untie me please." Joey asks, he is still tied up with ropes and zip ties in the van. Sly takes out a pair of scissors that he used to cut the Taser's wires and now uses them to cut the ropes and then the ties, freeing Joey.

"Thanks for saving me and all, but now what?" Joey asks.

"First, let's get back to the apartment and make some plans." Sly says, starting to advance out of the alley. The other two follow on with him and use the bus to get their way back to the apartment. As they ride the night time bus they just look outside in silence at all of the people that are out tonight having a good time and enjoying their lives. It is the downside of living this life, very rarely comes the opportunity to relax for even a brief moment when someone is looking for you. Sly hopes he can replicate that lifestyle at some point, when he doesn't have to worry about the police searching for him so he can be with Carmelita and watch his two kids grow up to become… whatever they want to be, whether that may be a thief or not, Sly decides he will not force it on them but merely offer the choice. But then he thinks of Alex and how focused he is on becoming one, it seems that some have already made their decision.


	14. Hard and Fast

**Chapter 13 – Hard and Fast**

**The apartment, Paris, France. 7:12am 29****th**** April 2022.**

Another day dawns on the Coopers, another morning in paradise. No one in this household is up yet and they are still happily sleeping away in this Saturday morning. But the doorbell rings and destroys what sleep Sly was having violently. All night it was as if that same weasel had crept into his dreams and tried to rack his brain from any sort of peace, as if to disturb him from the peaceful life he wants to live now, the same thing with the doorbell. Sly gets out of bed first, but an instant chill rides down his spine. Had they already come after him? Sly rejects it almost instantly but it lingers in the back of his mind like a bitter aftertaste. The doorbell rings again just as Sly approaches the door. Sly looks inside the peephole but can't see anyone outside. Sly doesn't want to take any chances though and crouches down to the ground to see if someone is actually standing at the door or it is a prank call. When he does bend over to look his eyes meet with a smaller set of unknown eyes doing the same thing at the same time.

"Is this where Alex and Erin live?" A child's voice asks from behind the door. Sly goes into two minds, he has never met this child before; Could it be a cruel trick to lure him out? To lure out his kids? Not the kids, Sly thinks. Sly goes into a small state of panic, the sheer weight he perceives on this answer becomes crushingly painful for Sly in his internal battle.

"Are you Mr. Olsen?" He asks again from the outside. This question allows Sly to leave his qualms. "I'm Matt and I'm one of their friends from school and I was wondering if they want to go out for breakfast with me."

"Just hold on." Sly says as he goes to talk with Alex and Erin. He walks into Erin's room first as it is the closest to the door. When he opens up the door, Erin has just woken up and has yet to move out of her bed yet.

"Erin." Sly says, peaking inside the door.

"What?" Erin tiredly responds.

"Do you know a kid called Matt from school?" Sly asks.

"Is that who it is?" Erin asks.

"Did you or your brother invite him here?" Sly asks.

"No, I don't know why he would be here so early." Erin responds, becoming more awake with every passing second.

"He says he wants you two to go out for breakfast." Sly tells her.

"Can you tell him in five minutes?" Erin asks.

"Sure thing." Sly replies. Sly quietly shuts the door and returns to the front door. He doesn't want to let them know about the events of the previous night get in their way.

"Can you wait five minutes? They're just getting ready." Sly says through the closed door.

"Okay." Matt replies, going to sit against the wall on the old but soft carpet. He sits and contemplates what's happening behind the door, or why their father was reluctant to let him in. All of these questions start to coalesce inside his head into one grey cloud of uncertainty. But that is broken by the sound of a shutting door below him. He has nothing better else to do but look down into the abyss that is there spiral staircase to see who one of their neighbours are. He looks down to see the black and white tail of the mystical figure known only as Jeremy. He becomes high on excitement. They live only 2 floors down from Jeremy! This could open up so many possibilities for me, he thinks. He returns to leaning against the wall but this time his mind races to completely figure out his new plans. Breakfast has been dwarfed in importance by this new revelation.

By the time the door reopens to let out Alex, who is wearing a black t shirt and tan shorts; and Erin, who is wearing a light blue long sleeve shirt with grey shorts, Matt has calmed down significantly on the outside but on the inside the anticipation of sharing this great news with them is extraordinary.

"You two come back by soon." Sly says, remaining remarkably calm from behind the door despite his own reservations about letting them out into this city. But he thinks they need to learn some things on their own, just like he had to. The door shuts and they start to make their way down the stairs. Before he can talk about his new finding, Matt notices a slight bulge inside both of their shorts with a faint green light trying to penetrate beyond the cotton fabric.

"What's the light inside your shorts?" Matt asks to Erin as she is walking closest to him.

"It's a tracking device." Erin says.

"You're parents are so strict." Matt comments. "Mine are always at work, so I can just do whatever I want."

"What do they do?" Alex asks.

"I don't know." Matt replies, as if he has never thought about it before. "They're always overseas, doing 'business'." Matt says. He moves closer to theirs ears in order to whisper to them. "But I think they're hiding something."

"What, you think they're government spies or international criminals or something?" Erin asks, not even concerned with the fact she has mentioned exactly what their family is.

"I don't know, maybe my mom's a spy and by dad's a gangster or something and they have to fight each other. And then my mom would be like 'I can't arrest you' and then they'd kiss like at the end of a movie." Matt cheesily says. The Cooper's don't share the same enthusiasm about his own internal adventures, mainly out of confusion. They reach the bottom of the stairs and Matt suddenly stops as he had just remembered what he saw 5 minutes ago. It's like he stands frozen when he realises this, like the doors word brass handle has rendered him immobile for a brief second.

"Did you know Jeremy the skunk lives in the same building as you?" Matt says with amazement.

"We met him on the first day." Alex replies.

"More like he met us." Erin corrects.

"Are you serious?" Matt excitedly exclaims, "Did he tell you anything? Where he came from, where his parents are?"

"No, he just said hi." Erin explains, pushing open the door to the world. Erin then sees the keypad outside with the sensor for the key she has below.

"How did you get in here?" Erin asks. She couldn't think that he could just walk inside without the lock getting in his way. Matt initially ignores the question, feigning that he wasn't listening as he walks out onto the footpath.

"Unless you live in this apartment block, you can't get inside; so how did you get inside?" Erin asks as they set down the path to follow Matt.

"Oh, ah… it's a secret, you can't show this to anyone else or they'll take it from me." Matt hushly explains.

"Who'll take it?" Alex asks.

"Anyone will, because it's so good." Matt explains, taking out a tiny little device that look like an old MP3 radio player that one would listen to while they were jogging. The tiny, worn silver plastic case looks intact on the outside. The twins don't seem to think like there is anything special in the palm of his hand.

"I built it from this old radio. I can unlock every door in the city, at least I think it can, but this is my key because I always lose mine except for this one." Matt explains, putting it back in this pocket. "I don't know why I never lose it, maybe it's because I look out for it so much."

"I'm starving, when are we getting breakfast?" Alex asks, focusing instead on the more basic of their needs.

"Soon, but first I want to see when 'he' get's back and what he's holding. Maybe it will give me clues as to what he does, and then once I figure out who he is, I'll be the smartest and most popular kid in school." Matt schemes, he then sees Jeremy approaching in the distance, holding some plastic bags. "He's coming now and he's holding something."

"It's looks like he's been to the supermarket." Erin says. In truth, she has never been inside or near one before. She only knows about it through the books she has read.

"What's that?" Alex asks.

"It's a place where people any type of food that they want." Matt explains. "Surely you'd know that?" Alex retreats into silence while Matt goes and hide behind Alex, which isn't the best place to hide considering Matt's long and thin tail is easily visible as it pokes out of the side.

"Hide me." He says to Alex from behind.

"You don't have to hide behind me, it makes you look like you're trying too hard. Just act like you don't notice him." Alex explains.

"So you don't know what a supermarket is and yet you can tell me how to hide?" Matt asks.

"It's better than what you were doing." Erin remarks. Matt becomes defeated and resigns to lean against the wall just like the other two. Alex sees Matt turn his head and look past them in order to get a glimpse at what Jeremy is carrying. Ale pulls him back.

"You don't turn your head, just your eyes." Alex explains. He brings out his hand and hold out a finger in order to demonstrate this. He moves his finger to either side while keeping his head still while his eyes follow his grey furred hand.

"How do you know all this?" Matt asks while still turning his head to look at the approaching Jeremy, the items in the plastic bags seem to separate into their true components instead of the blurry rainbow of colour.

"He watches a lot of movies." Erin explains; once again, reciting one of the lies to tell in order to protect their origins and themselves.

"No I don't" Alex replies.

"Well, it's not much for him but for me it seems like a lot." Erin continues, cutting off Alex in the process.

"Quiet." Matt says while trying to follow Alex's helpful hints and to look at Jeremy to further assess who he is. When Jeremy gets to the door, he takes a look at the three kids just standing there. He continues to look at them whilst he unlocks the door without looking using a key, he can see that one of them is trying to look at him like some freak of nature that everyone thinks he is. But he lets this impolite act of spying slip as he walks into the building whilst holding the two reasonably heavy bags of food.

"That was amazing!" Matt exclaims. "He was carrying some pate and some pastries and then a big pack of cereal…" Matt lists but is cut off.

"How is that going to help?" Alex asks. "It would be easier if you broke into his apartment and searched it for clues, but we can't do that."

"I guess not." Matt concludes, realising the task would be too daunting for him. Alex's reason is a bit different; it has been drilled into him like a pylon into a building's foundation by his father. While it may be fun and even a tiny bit challenging to break into his house, it is definitely not honourable.

"So now that this is done, I'm starving." Alex moans.

"You guys are coming back to my place, we're going to have a great day." Matt exclaims, thinking of all of the things they could do together. Erin becomes slightly suspicious at their new friends generosity and enthusiasm towards the pair of them.

"Why us?" Erin asks.

"Cause you're my friends and that's what friends do." Matt cheerfully replies.

"But, we've only been here for less than 48 hours and now you start clinging to us like a mollusc to a pier." Erin says. The happiness of Matt goes away as if his new reality has just been obliterated. Matt thinks he has just been accused of being friends with them, for being too close to them. Whilst he is above average in intelligence and isn't afraid to use it, making friends is the quintessential nerds weakness.

"I'm sorry, I thought that since you were new and no one else knew you; and then after that 'demonstration' in dodgeball, I saw how cool you guys were and… I guess I failed." Matt emotionally apologises, becoming more defeatist with every passing word. He starts walking down the street away from the two raccoons and mumble a single word to himself that compounds this moment.

"Again."

She feels like they have made a mistake, Erin didn't mean to be accusatory towards him; it was just a comment at the fast pacing escalation of their new friendship. Usually she'd have the correct tools to fix the situation, she has a knack for that whenever she would be faced with a situation like the 'puzzles' that Sly set up in Sweden. Such things as cracking locks or doing a scavenger hunt are a cinch in her mind, but this brand new situation she is facing is beyond the logical nature of her mind. The correct order or words that could correctly fix this problem can't assemble themselves in her mind under the emotional confusion. However, the more impulsive Alex jumps forward to mend the perceptively severed friendship between them.

"So, what are we eating?" Alex says, completely oblivious to what has happened before. Matt wonders how he couldn't have noticed or realised what had happened before.

"It doesn't matter." He says back with a hint of anger at himself. Erin starts to catch up from behind.

"Of course it does! There's a difference between cereal and eggs." Alex explains. At this point, Matt takes a closer look at Alex in order to figure out what is keeping him so happy and content. Erin comes beside Matt but he doesn't see.

"It wasn't an accusation." Erin pleads. Alex becomes dumbfounded at the long word he is indirectly presented with. Matt quickly turns his head, slightly frightened that she has just snuck on him like that without even hearing her. But he turns his head back, facing the path in front of them, but they are halted by the set of traffic lights they must cross. It gives them time to attempt to sort it out.

"You've been very nice to us, that's a _good_ thing." She begins. "If we truly didn't want to be your friend, we wouldn't be here." Matt considers these words, he considers them for a long time as they weave their way through the Parisian streets to the foot of his apartment building where he opens up the door with his special key.


	15. Hidden From View

**Chapter 14 – Hidden from View**

"Where are the stairs?" Alex asks. Looking inside the gleaming interior of the lobby.

"This building has a lift, you're unlucky because gonna have such a bad time climbing stairs for the rest of your life." Matt comments.

"I'll race you to the top." Alex challenges.

"It's only 2 floors up, you'll be upstairs before the lift comes." Matt says. But it is too late as he has disappeared through the entrance to the service stairs, leaving Matt and Erin together.

"Is your brother hyperactive or have ADHD?" Matt asks.

"He's just Alex, at least, that's what my dad says anyway." Erin says, as she watches the completely mark free stainless steel elevator doors open to reveal the car inside. They step inside, this time being the first for Erin inside any lift. The doors shut and Matt swipes his special key to activate the lift. Once that is done they make the extremely brief trip up to 2 floors where they see Alex just leaning against the far wall opposite the elevator.

"You guys were so slow, I could have had breakfast in that time. What's for breakfast?" Alex asks once again.

"What ever my brother's are willing to make." Matt says, taking out the key to unlock this conventional lock.

"Brother's?" Erin asks.

"Yeah." Matt says, opening the door to what looks like an apartment turned into a darkened cave with only the bright lights of the flatscreen TV illuminating the room. In front of that is a couch that seats his 4 brothers, all between the ages of 14 to 17. They seem to act in sync with each, acting as one conscious in the game world rather than 4 individuals.

"Don't talk to them, they don't like strangers." Matt whispers over the sound of heavy gunfire from the speakers of the TV.

"Then, if they're doing that, what's for breakfast?" Alex asks.

"It's will be whatever _I _have to make because all they do is sit in front of the TV and play video games non stop over the week end." Matt explains.

"Is that a video game?" Alex asks, not knowing what one would look like.

"It's Warmonger 9, they're going for the high score in the weekly leader board." Matt casually explains while opening the fridge, looking for something he can eat but all he sees is a fridge stocked with soft drink and a cupboard stocked with potato chips. Of course, the twins just take in the meaningless words that he has spat out.

"Did you spend all of the food money on soft drink and potato chips again?" Matt shouts over the simulated gunfire and explosions.

"It's not soft drink!" One of them shouts, not turning his face away from the screen. "It's limited edition strawberry vodka flavoured lemon."

Matt shuts the fridge again with his head down, thinking of an alternative.

"Matt, you came at the right time, our 15 hour quest is almost at an end." One of them shouts excitedly as the sound of button pressing becomes more intensive in this muggy and overly sweaty room that has been locked away from the rest of the world.

"Well, there goes that plan." Matt says.

"What's plan B? Everyone has to have a plan B." Alex asks quietly.

"Who did you bring in here?!" One of them shouts, sensing that Matt is not the only other child in the room. "More test subjects, I presume."

"No." Matt replies.

"Helpers?" he presses.

"No."

"Science partners?"

"No."

"Guys, I believe our little bro Matt has done something that he has never accomplished before, something that we never thought would happen so long as we were still playing video games." He sarcastically announces. A little giggle comes out of one or two of them, but it is hard to tell due to all of the action going on inside the infinitesimally thin 8K 60 inch TV. "He has…" he tries to say but he just bursts out in laughter along with the others, all while still performing the lighting quick button movements required to take down their online opponents; or as they'd say, pwn all the noobs.

"Friends." Matt says, trying to be as assertive and powerful as he can muster in order to silence their laughter, but they still keep going until the moment wears down and they slip back into the trance like state of concentration that they have kept for hour upon hour.

"30 seconds left guys." One of them says. "Introduce us to your 'friends' after we're done."

"They're total pricks." Matt says. Alex makes the 'be quiet' hand gesture and attempts to sneak up on the older rats in order to give them the proper respect. Alex moves around to the couch and gets around to the back of the TV unit that holds all of their electronic items. A large bundle of cables runs out of the back, all connected to all different sorts of devices. Alex starts pulling them out one by one, waiting for the reaction from the teenage rats, oblivious to Alex or indeed other outside entities.

"10 seconds, we've got this!" One says in jubilation. Alex has pulled out half of the mass of cables, but none of them are connected the items they are using. Alex then realises where the AV cable is and pulls it out. The TV that Alex used in Sweden was nothing like this, but he knew how to annoy his sister whenever she was watching something or attract his parent's attention. Meanwhile on the sweat soaked coach in this apartment, the faces of the Rats turn from rising elation to shock and then anger.

"Matt!" One of them shouts, throwing the controller at where he thinks Matt is in the kitchen. It is a fastball with the fury of many wasted hours behind it. Matt tries to dodge it but Erin somehow manages to catch the slippery controller in the dimly lit room, saving Matt from their aggression in the process.

"It's just the TV." One of them realises, they go back to their happy and celebratory state from one of panic and shock. They don't need the TV to be on to have their record breaking run be cut short, only the console needs to remain on for victory to be achieved. Alex becomes puzzled but remains hidden from view.

"But if Matt somehow caught the remote, then who is behind the TV?" One of them asks. They get up off the couch and slowly make their way, sneaking up on the back of the TV in order to trap the intruder.

"Wide 2x2 formation." One says, transferring their gaming knowledge into the real world. They block out either side and peak in behind to search for someone that they think is there. But their search in this dark light is futile; they can hardly see anything despite having their eyes adjusted to the darkness. All they can see is a pile of cables that are not plugged in.

"Matt, turn on the light; but slowly, not like last time where you burned our eyes." One of them says. Matt goes over to the light switch and uses the dimmer switch to gently elevate the level of light until it is at full brightness; still there is no one there.

"Matt, if you are responsible for this, which you are, then we are going to have to lock you up again so we don't get distracted." One says while plugging in the cables back into their correct holes.

"No, no, no." Matt quickly stutters.

"It's not his fault." Erin chimes in.

"Whoa, nice female impersonation." Another one says. "I've got hand it to you…" He continues, but he turns his head and their reality is shattered.

"A girl? What? You're 8 years old and now you've had more girl friends than all of us combined." He comments while the others stare in amazement at this rare sight.

"She's not my girl friend." Matt says. "I've only known her for 2 days."

"That's longer then we could ever do." One says, but as if it is a bad thing.

"What do you mean?" Matt says, being as unfamiliar with the nuances of relationships as much as Erin.

"You see, my younger brother; when you meet a girl, no matter how serious, it becomes a relationship." The oldest brother poetically announces. "You'll have to do things for her and have to appease her until she is content, which by the way, will never happen. That's why we stay here, in the comfort and safety of here where we can stay in this wonderful isolation."

"Were you just behind the couch?" Another one asks.

"I'm standing here, how can I…" He argues but he realises they are not talking to him. He turns around to see a young raccoon trying to skulk his way from behind the TV console. Alex stops in his tracks and tries to act assertive towards his shocked and angry accusors, but he remains silent.

"Is he one of your friends?" One of them asks to Matt.

"Yeah." Alex says assertively, trying to brave.

"So you're the one who almost destroyed an entire nights worth of gaming?"

There is silence from Alex, he knows he is in for it now.

"Don't hurt him, he's just hungry and mad that you couldn't get any decent food." Matt pleas.

"Don't worry we won't hurt him." They assure them. "We just want to play a game."

"What kind of game?" Erin asks.

"One that your… wait, you're a raccoon also? Are you related?" They ask.

"He's my younger brother." Erin casually says.

"By six minutes." Alex retorts.

"But you've got blond fur, you're like some freak raccoon or something." He says. Erin never thought the tan colour of fur was wrong, she knew it was different from the same grey and black striped Alex and Sly, but wrong? It never crossed her mind.

"You're an albino." One says. Their minds are not in the correct state of mind; starved of sleep and deprived of anything that a reasonable person could call nutrition. Erin takes a look at her own fur on her arms leading to her hands, doubting her own being. She, of course, is not an albino. She just has inherited the lighter skin from her mother. Compared to the grey and black striped Alex along with the other grey rats, she stands out like a single lightbulb in a dark empty room.

"What about the game?" Alex asks, inadvertently taking their attention away from Erin.

"Oh, it's just a little game we call hide and seek." He says. Inside, Alex could not have hoped for a better and easier game than this. "You win, we'll let Matt spend the food money. If you loose, Matt can't bring you or your sister or anyone else he calls his 'friends' over here, ever."

"Do I have a choice?" Alex asks sarcastically.

"Nope. We'll give you 30 seconds to hide, then if we can't find you after 10 minutes. You win. Starting now." He says. They all sit down on the couch and close their eyes, along with Matt moving around the front with Erin to check to see if they are not cheating, they move back out of their way once they accomplish this. But they can't even hear Alex sneak away from the living room area and move off to search for a hiding spot.

"I hope your brother is good at this." Matt says to Erin.

"He's pretty good." Erin says, underselling Alex's talents to further conceal their identity.

"They've got this worked out, this isn't the first time they've done this." He whispers.

"You need to stop being bullied by your own brothers, they treat you like a piece of dirt." Erin says.

"It's fine." Matt says. "I just go outside, a place they fear more than anything."

"Okay, here we come." One of them shouts. But they don't break off straight away in the planned and methodical way that Matt was expecting; they go into a huddle and whisper something that they can't hear.

"This is new, they must have worked on it in the game." Matt whispers to Erin. After 20 seconds or so, they move off into the pattern that Matt was expecting, they go on their separate paths, moving from place to place into all of the possible hiding spots amongst the furniture and cupboards.

"You know, we've already lost." Matt says.

"Does it always end up badly?" Erin says.

"They average under 2 minutes." Matt explains.

"Come on Alex." Erin wishes to herself.

Alex has found himself the best spot he could think of in that time, It's under the one of the 2 bunk beds in what he thinks is the older rat's room. He can hear the faint but frantic footsteps as he presses himself as low as he can in order to not bulge the mattress and easily give away his position. He sees the pair of feet come in and he becomes nervous, they move quickly from the cupboards to behind and under desks. The nervousness takes over his body; the knowledge that once he has been found, this new friend of his will be punished for something he didn't do. Alex thinks he should be the one that is punished instead, but he can't fight against 4 teenage boys no matter how good Alex thinks he is. The rat comes and looks under the opposite bed, then turns his head towards where Alex is lying motionless but anxious. Somehow, this rat doesn't see him and continues on as if he didn't exist. Alex thinks he has dodged the figurative bullet here, being that incredibly lucky is rare in his case.

But a scheme unfolds in his head. He wonders how long it's been since he has been under the bed; 1 minute, 2 minutes? To him, it feels like every second carries an enormous weight. Maybe that rat just walked away so he could tell the others and then come up with some dastardly punishment for him. At least he would feel that the right thing had been done. More waiting comes and he sees the frantic running of feet from outside this bedroom, it seems they have become more worried than he is but he doesn't move and stays in this spot where he somehow can't be found.

More time passes and he keeps himself occupied by looking at the tiny details imprinted on the underside of the mattress. They have become increasingly interesting with each passing second, anything new is more interesting, even looking at how the fibres of the carpet are curled into slightly different shapes with some having a single thread frayed that sticks out from the seemingly flat plane of carpet. But this little distraction is cut when he hears the faint shouting from the rats.

"We give up! Come out now." One of them shouts whilst inside another room. Alex is not that naïve to fall for this old trick. While it feels like he has been in there forever, it definitely has not been 10 minutes so he stays in his position underneath the bed. The pleas from the rats in each of the rooms that they enter sounds like it is more of a taunt than a plea, this makes Alex think even more that they must know where he is and are just making him think that he is that close to success, only to have it snatched away cruelly in the last second. Alex now realises he has to change his spot; it is his only option to perhaps buy him those extra seconds needed to get across the 600 second line. He waits underneath the bed until it's quiet and can't hear anything before preparing to get out from underneath as quickly as possible to underneath the opposite bed. He readies himself for the leap across the small gap and focuses on keeping himself low and stealthy. His feet dig into the carpet and tense, ready for action. In one movement, he thrusts himself from underneath the bed but doesn't make it entirely across the gap in one go and frantically tries to scramble across, but out of the corner of his eye he spots the teenage rats move into this room quickly. He is a sitting duck, his legs sprawled across the carpet, the only thing he thinks could help him is the dark coloured carpet that partially camouflages his body. He quickly brings his legs inside the bed but not quickly enough it seems, as he makes contact with the ankles of one of the rats.

"He's here!" That same rat exclaims, bending down quickly to expose Alex just like the others. They look underneath the bed whilst Alex's heart is high on adrenaline, pumping incredibly fast, engaging the flight or fight instinct.

"Your too twitchy." Another one says to him whilst still looking underneath the bed.

"I swear I felt him, he's here." He says whilst still looking under the bed.

Alex has become incredibly confused whilst still being nervous and anxious. How had they not seen him underneath this empty space under the bed? Does he blend into the carpet too well just like he thought before? Are they all blind or light intolerant? Is he just the luckiest raccoon in the world?

"You probably felt the bed." One of them argues. However, eager to prove that he is not insane, he reaches into the empty underside of the bed, trying to grab something that to him with hopefully turn into the bane of their problem. Alex pushes himself as far back as he can to the wall so he can stay out of reach, but this skinny rat tries to push himself underneath the bed, getting his hand closer to the wall. Alex moves across so that he can be out of reach of this desperate lunging rat.

But this action only gives him a whole heap of questions that he can't answer. He just moved across the floor and this rat didn't even see him as if he was…

Invisible.

The thought of it conjures up some images of super heroes and fantasy worlds far distant from the reality of this one. Whilst he is a child and can sometimes wander into the magical land of imagination, he is not one to reject the reality he sees and substitute it with his own events that more easily fit his version of events. From his list of possible reasons why they haven't seen him, he takes off any form of camouflage as the white wall at the back contrasts his dark fur. However, blindness is still an option though he thinks. At this moment, Erin and Matt enter the room to watch the failings of Matt's older brothers.

"20 seconds." Matt cheekily says, but inside he is incredibly happy that his older brothers are being flummoxed so well. This is a friend, he thinks, that he needs to hold onto. Erin bends down so she can see underneath this bed as well to check to see if they have cornered Alex, but she doesn't see anything, it only makes the sight of the teenage rat half exposed in between the beds and also half flailing about underneath the bed like he's swatting flies a hilarious sight. She tries to hold in her laughter but it is inescapable. The rats are not impressed at all.

"You're helping him!" One of them accuses.

"No, he's moving about by himself." Erin jokes before bursting into laughter again along with Matt, who doesn't laugh so heartily.

"Time's up." Matt says, looking at his wristwatch.

"Where did you hide him?" One of them asks more ferociously, attempting to stand over Erin and frighten her. However, It's a futile attempt, she's not scared so easily.

"I don't know." She shrugs, unaffected by his tactics. But she sees Alex crawl out from under the other bed that the rat is not under.

"I win!" Alex says. He had snuck around to his original hiding spot whilst Erin and Matt distracted them. The rats quickly turn around, stunned that he had been so close this entire time. They become intensely frustrated with themselves and then at each other.

"You checked in here, right?" One asks.

"Yeah, nothing." He answers.

"And what about you? You kept on pointing us in this direction when he was there all along!" He asks to the rat that is slowly getting up from under the bed.

"I felt his furry leg!" He explains. This group doesn't want to admit defeat, they'll go through everything to pin the blame on someone or something for this loss.

"You guys are blind." Alex says whilst walking back to his sister. "I'm hungry, let's get breakfast."

"No, no, no." One of the rats says, moving to block their path. "You're telling us how exactly how you managed to evade us for 10 straight minutes in detail."

"You can't stop me." Alex defiantly says, high of the confidence of the win.

"You're such sore losers." Matt says. This aggravates them further to the point where one rat restrains him and takes his prized electronic key from his pocket and raises into the air where he can't reach.

"Give it back." Matt says, trying to jump up as high as he can reach, desperately trying to get his key back.

"You're not getting this back for a long time, if at all." He says, putting it into his pocket.

"Give it." Matt says, trying to be physical and reach into his pocket to take back what is his but he is not strong or very fast or agile enough to grab it. He just fends him off with the stiff arm to prevent the struggling Matt from reaching it. They laugh at his feeble attempts at trying to get it back. Matt gives up and re-joins his friends who now have a clear exit path out now that they have attempted to toy with him.

"Let's go." Erin says, trying to walk away quietly and hoping they won't notice.

"Hey, come back!" One says. Alex and Erin break out into a sprint and Matt follows suit after a delayed reaction. It's over in a flash as they rush out of the apartment and shut the door on their onrushing pursuers. They become relaxed now that they have left the apartment; Matt knows they won't dare adventure out into the unknown when they are fully stocked with snacks. One they are outside in the vacant hallway, they feel a sense of relief. Alex is chuckling to himself at how funny this whole thing has been, the other two soon join him as the laughter is contagious.

"That was so funny." Alex exclaims. "I was under the bed and they didn't even see me. They were looking right at me and they didn't even see me."

"How did you do it?" Matts asks. Erin is also curious as they all walk to the elevator.

"I don't know, maybe they're blind." Alex says.

"I guess we're taking the stairs since they have my key." Matt says, already advancing to the service stairs.

"I've got your key." Alex says, pulling out of his shorts and showing it to Matt.

"But, that's impossible. How?" Matt says.

"It's easy." Alex says as he gives the key back. They wait for the elevator to come to their floor. Matt wonders again about his new friends, pulling off the improbable seems like a cakewalk for them. He then thinks about how he would ask them about it, or indeed what he would ask. The doors open and they walks inside and they close on them.

"So what's with you guys?" Matt asks. Alex and Erin don't know what exactly he is asking about them judging from the vague and broad nature of the question.

"Who are you?" Matt asks. This question really makes Erin think deep about herself and indeed who she is or more specifically, who Matt thinks they are. The doors open back into the lobby and back into the open world. Matt presses the button to open the sliding doors and they walk outside. Alex and Erin have not said anything to answer this question of Matt's and it makes him think that they have something to hide.


	16. Paranoid Perceptions

**Chapter 15 – Paranoid Perceptions**

**Warning: Contains Drug References**

**The apartment, Paris, France. 7:25am 29th April 2022**

"You two be back soon." Sly says to his kids as they leave with their 'friend' Matt. Sly can't ignore the presence of this stranger and how this could be the start of the most sinister and cruel plot possible by that weasel. Getting to him via his children seems like the most devastating way for him to be found out. Sly wonders how he could have found out where they live. Did Alex or Erin tell him or even show him where they live? Or is he being fed information like a child spy, waiting for the moment to arrest him? Whatever it is, it makes him worried sick.

Sly then proceeds to do something he should have done a long time ago. Sly goes to the phone and dials up the apartment opposite him across the road where both Joey and Penelope have slept. Sly takes the cordless phone and walks over to the window so he can look inside the apartment, where he sees Penelope sleeping on the couch, oblivious to his own worries. He watches as Penelope turns her head and the brown coloured blanket shift slowly off the couch as she moves to look at the phone that rests on the desk. Sly can only watch as Penelope gets up in her own sweet time, it annoys him slightly but he knows there are certain things he can't control.

Penelope walks over slowly and wearily towards the phone as she has been rudely awoken by the shrill tone of this retched device and has disturbed her sleep. But she still goes and picks the phone up and receives the call.

"Hello." Penelope tiredly says.

"Penelope." Sly says with urgency in his voice, much to the contrast of Penelope's tired and slow voice.

"Sly, it's too early. Let me sleep." Penelope tiredly asks.

"Don't put the phone down." Sly asks. Penelope looks out the window and moves the phone away from it's cradle and sees him standing opposite her in the other apartment. Penelope thinks she has been entrapped by Sly's dual presence on the phone and visually.

"I need you to do an important job, a very important job." Sly says with a certain degree of worry and hushness, like it needs to be done as soon as possible.

"Can it wait?" Penelope asks, both into the phone and in Sly's general direction.

"Sly." Carmelita says after waking up. "Who are you taking to?" This catches Sly off guard and he quickly turns around as if it was back in his day where Ms. Fox had caught him just as he was about to nab his desired loot.

"Uh…" Sly stalls whilst he turns off the phone and pretends he was just admiring the view.

"You've been so worried recently." Carmelita notes concerningly to him.

"Yeah, Moving back here changes everything." Sly states.

"You're telling me." Carmelita says. There is a brief pause as Carmelita walks up to him and puts an arm around him. "We've just moved, don't let that night in Sweden get you down."

Sly is forced to relive it again, as if his eighth birthday was fused into this latest one. It makes his heart race with fear and anxiety. This fear is transferred to his face and Carmelita notices it. She will never truly understand her partner, to some extent that's what makes him so alluring. But something has rucked him so thickly that it's stayed with him.

"Baby, what's wrong?" Carmelita asks.

"It's just… I'm worried." Sly announces as he moves away from the window and back onto the couch. To Carmelita, this Sly is the opposite of the calm and confident, even a little audacious, Sly Cooper she fell in love with. She never saw him in this state when they were foes.

"About what?" Carmelita asks. She couldn't envisage what could possibly worry this once carefree raccoon. Sly hesitates about giving an answer but inevitably lets it out.

"Last night." Sly starts, it's difficult for him to say this. "I went out to help out a friend. And, and then I had to rescue Penelope and then Joey from this, this." Sly lacks the correct word to describe the weasel. He's not a police officer and he doubts that he works for Interpol. "Weasel who threated to come after us. And, someone was at the door and I thought it was them." Carmelita realises how much he cares for the twins, to the extent that his usually happy demeanour is broken by his nightmares.

"You know I had been having those nightmares in the months up to before we got attacked?" Sly asks.

"Yeah." Carmelita replies, not sure where he is going with this.

"I didn't want to have to tell you this." Sly says, preparing himself more than anything.

"My parents got murdered on my 8th birthday." Sly says, he tries to hold back the tsunami of emotions that compound each other even after more than 25 years.

"And, I thought it was going to, repeat itself." Sly hushly says. Still successfully holding back his emotions.

"But we're alive now, they're alive and that's what matters." Carmelita says.

"This is something that you've probably never thought about when you kept on chasing me, but being constantly chased your entire life is tiring. You've never had someone on your back constantly ready to pounce on your mistakes; for every waking hour and waking night. And last night I realised that I can't get rid of that. When I pleaded to him to let me live my life in peace now that I had retired, I saw what he saw. He didn't see a father or even a raccoon in a trench coat, he saw a criminal and a thief and I realised, that I couldn't just turn it off like a light when I want to." Sly explains.

"You don't want to know the bosses I had to respond to whenever you escaped." Carmelita says.

"But you could go home and be yourself and not worry, I would always be checking over my shoulder." Sly explains.

"Sly, being at Interpol wasn't so easy for me. The amount of hits on me, the amount of death threats I have received. Sometimes I wondered how easy it was on your side." Carmelita rebuts.

"But still, I need to get this stupid weasel off my tail, and that means I have to do something I should have done a long time ago." Sly says looking at the painting still in it's protective case resting diagonally inside a box. Carmelita feels even more respect for his willingness to give up what was meant to be his greatest heist that would surely cement his spot as one of the top thieves of all time.

"Are you going to give it back?" Carmelita asks, as Sly sits up on the couch.

"No. I mean." Sly can't think of what to do with it, he just want's it away, hoping that it will clear his conscience and remove his worries.

"When I took the painting, I went against what I knew to be true, what I live for. La Joconde wasn't owned by some devious art collector or in the hands of another thief; it was in the Louvre. And I knew what I was getting myself in for; that makes it even worse. I thought it, I thought it would make me feel… good, knowing that I've pulled at least one really big heist that I could be remembered by. I mean, what's bigger than the world's largest diamond?" Sly asks rhetorically. Would his father be proud of what he had done? He never asked.

"But it's just turned out to be a curse brought upon by my mistake. Now I must take it away to a place where they won't find it and I won't have to look at it." Sly explains. It pains him to have to admit this fault. No matter how much he justified it's theft by deceiving himself that it didn't belong to the Louvre and no matter how much his gang, Bentley in particular, wanted him to do it. The price of glory has now been finally forwarded to Sly now that past has caught up with him, with added interest.

"I can get it back to the Louvre and no one will know." Carmelita quickly says.

"But if they find that it's returned, I'll be back in the public spotlight and after what happened before, I don't want to have that happen again." Sly says. Given that he prefers to stay in the shadows. When he had the media on his back due to the plans of The Director, It was like he was exposed, as if he had no clothes on in public. It was a truly horrible feeling.

"Yeah, but for good reasons." Carmelita reasons.

"But what will everyone say about me?" Sly rhetorically asks. "Sly Cooper has caved in. Sly Cooper had something stolen off him. Sly Cooper is in Paris right now. Alex will be exposed and taken away, then they'll go after Erin. Or they'll just take them both at once." Sly worries, Alex does look a lot like him. This strikes a chord in Carmelita with the instinctive parent and mother inside her fretting ferociously as well.

"Get Bentley to fix something up, create a paper trail." Carmelita says.

"I don't think he's in the right state of mind for that." Sly says, looking out at Penelope sleeping on the couch.

"How come she's here?" Carmelita asks.

"Something bad must have happened." Sly says, not knowing the answer himself. There is a pause as Carmelita thinks of the action Sly is leaning towards the most.

"You're going to take it to the vault?" Carmelita says.

"Not me, at least, I hope not." Sly says. His love and care for his children has been wildly underestimated by Carmelita. At this moment, Carmelita gets closer to him by sitting beside him on the couch.

"Let's all go then, let's get away for the weekend. You could even call up Murray and he could take us there." Carmelita reasons.

"It's on the other side of the world. It would take 2 days just to fly there and back." Sly says.

"Call up Murray, see what he can do." Carmelita says. Sly can't think of a reason not to. He retrieves the phone and dials in Murray's mobile phone number which has been pre programmed into the phone on speed dial. Sometimes it's the little things that matter.

**Blagnac Airport, Toulouse, France.**

Inside the giant warehouse like buildings that sit next to the airport sit the uncompleted frames of planes that are being assembled by the workers amongst the army of robots that do all of the riveting and welding. The hustle and bustle of this assembly line is not where Murray is working, although he hopes to be on one of those planes soon. He is stuck in the training simulator, watching over the students who sit inside the simulated cockpit sitting on hydraulics on all angles to recreate all of the bumps and jiggles one would experience in the air. He sits in a room overlooking the simulator with a large window allowing him to look at the cabin. He has an array of controls that can make the students day easier or harder. Want to fly through a category 5 cyclone? Want to land a jumbo jet on a 1 kilometre runway? Want to recreate the monotony of endless trans European flights that they will experience everyday? He's got it all.

It bores him deeply, he wants to be in the air and instead he's trapped inside this dark room that seems endless if he looks far enough into it's perpetual blackness. He doesn't lack the flying skills to go into the air; in fact, he is one of the best at this company and that's why he's teaching others.

"You're moving the controls too hard, you've got to feel the plane." Murray instructs over the intercom, simulating the air traffic control.

"I'm doing it, I'm doing it." The student says, loosening his grip on the yoke.

"That's good." Murray says. "Climb to 10400 metres."

"Roger." The student says. Murray cell phone vibrates on the console in front of him. Murray grabs it and picks it up, expecting his bosses to dumb a whole heap of fresh meat on him. That is to say more new students, he doesn't work for a butcher.

"Hello." Murray says, turning off his microphone while answering.

"Are you free?" Sly asks. Murray is surprised he is receiving a call. He doesn't know about the recent events that have happened to Sly and his family.

"Give me 30 seconds." Murray says. He turns the microphone back on.

"Tango Alpha Victor 523 you are going to loose communications as you fly through this storm that's approaching." Murray says, adjusting the weather from cloudy to stormy with the twist of a dial. Inside, the student feels like he has no control, storm clouds just appearing on the monitors in front of him makes him fell annoyed. He didn't think he was doing any wrong. Murray takes off his headset and places it on the console whilst Murray watches the cabin fly up and down and side to side like it's being shaken like a rattle.

"I'm free now." Murray says.

"Can you fly us out to the south pacific today? It's urgent." Sly says.

"I'm not on the roster for that route." Murray replies. "I'm stuck teaching students."

"Talk to Bentley, he'll hack into the systems and get you on the correct route." Sly says. He feels like he's back on a heist again, the happy go lucky personality has returned to him to a certain extent.

"It would be a 3 leg flight at least." Murray explains. "You would need a trip from Sweden to a major airport where you'd go from there via South America and take a seaplane out to the Island." Murray explains, thinking through the route out aloud.

"2 legs." Sly corrects.

"You're not in Sweden?" Murray asks. "What happened?"

"Stuff happened, and now we're in Paris." Sly explains.

"Even easier." Murray says. "I'm going to call Bentley." Sly doesn't even have a chance to say thank you before Murray has terminated the call. The hippo's excitement is palpable, being able to fly and even better, be with his friends again is too much for him. Murray quickly dials up Bentley, excited for the day ahead.

"Buddy." Murray gleefully says.

"Murray. I, I wasn't expecting you're call." Bentley replies. He's had more than rough past 48 hours. The lab is in an abnormal state of disarray. Things lie everywhere in disorganised piles. Bentley has to use his high tech wheelchair to fly over the mess that has taken over every square inch of space. It is the result of an attempted distraction from what he has done, but all he has done is just make things messy.

"Can you get me onto the flight roster so I can get Sly to the Island as soon as possible?" Murray asks.

"I don't know why you didn't ask sooner." Bentley comments, referring to the fact that he knows that Murray doesn't like being stuck in the simulator. But his workstation is in a similar state of clutter; even the journey from his current position to the desk featuring a prototype quantum computer seems too far away.

"Can you do it?" Murray asks.

"Yeah, I can do it." Bentley says with a hint of doubt in his voice.

"Is something wrong?" Murray asks.

"Nothing, it's nothing." Bentley hurriedly says, but it's all in his voice.

"I know when my buddy has something up." Murray says, still watching this student be faced with a raging storm, he adds some hail in the mix just for the fun of it.

"Don't worry about me, I've got it under control." Bentley says. The sea of mess would say otherwise.

"Okay. Call me when you're done so I can get ready." Murray instructs before he turns off the phone and also the rain and hail.

Bentley meanwhile looks at the sea of metal that he has created. He created it. He caused it. He has to realise that for himself. Bentley uses his technofied wheelchair to fly up over the pieces of metal over to the desk where he is met with a crunching metallic sound of the metal his chair lands on. There is still a grey smoke that hangs in the air. Quite frankly, he can't see the difference between C+ and C++ right now in the state he is in. But now the real world has come calling, his friends have come calling, and he's not sure if he doesn't want to let them down; another hit would make his decision easier he thinks. He looks at his prototype bong that also rests on the ground watches as the hallucinogenic properties from the marijuana inside his head make him imagine it as if it was the key to the meaning of life itself, a journey he has tripped through no less than 5 times. It's allure is powerful, it looks so inviting like a solution to Fermat's last theorem.

However, it's never the solution. No amount of weed can turn his worries into smoke and it's only now that he realises how desperate he has become. The sea of metal strewn across the usually clean and polished concrete floor now becomes an eyesore instead of… whatever he thought it was.

"Wha?" Bentley mutters to himself, looking what he has done, especially at the pile of smashed bongs in the corner. He wasn't even fully aware of what he what he has done; earlier he was, but that time has disappeared. He turns his head to see everything that he has done; the somewhat magical spell has begun to wear off.

"What have you done?" Bentley asks himself despairingly. The sight of it all wants to make him crawl inside his shell to hide himself from the shame of it all. Luckily he didn't have anyone else to share this experience with. It makes him throw up, it's not for the first time either. He has the antidote to it's effects, he would be foolish not to have an ample supply in this country. He quickly tries to wheel his chair to where he thinks they are, but realises that his path is clogged up with scrap metal. So he flies across to a medicine cupboard that contains a whole set of antidotes and medicines for various poisons, illnesses and even drugs. He takes the needle with the clear water like fluid inside and injects it into himself, hoping that it will be over soon. However, the results are not immediate like had hoped for. Still all of the effects remain in place, the fluid still working it's way to block the THC receptors in the brain.

It takes roughly 4 minutes for Bentley to regain clear thought and vision again, he still needs his glasses though. It's feels like a warm blanket has been taken away and he's been rudely awoken by an alarm at 3am in the morning while ice cold water is poured on his face whilst an electric guitar is strummed at full volume with the amplifier next to his face, but it's what is necessary.

"Murray." Bentley mutters to himself. He races to the desk on his flying wheelchair, remembering what he had asked him to do. The wide ranging mess can wait for now, there an pilots roster to be hacked. Bentley opens up a map of the world in an attempt to map out the quickest path to the Island without arousing suspicion. He looks at this public map and how this island's true nature has been covered up, it looks like some flat plains have been stranded in the south pacific to the casual observer but Bentley is not the casual observer. He proceeds to overlay known flight paths on top of the map, hoping that one of them will intersect with the island.

Because, Bentley schemes, they won't be traveling first class.

Bentley gets on the phone back to Murray.

"Ok, You'll be going from Paris to Santiago in Chile." Bentley starts.

"I thought we were going from Paris through to South America then take a seaplane or something to the Island." Murray says. This time the air traffic control tower has lost power.

"That's the quickest _normal_ route." Bentley replies.

"I can't land an A420 in the ocean, I'd get fired." Murray worries.

"You won't need to land." Bentley explains. "You'll keep flying on to Sydney."

"Bentley, just say what you're planning." Murray says, becoming annoyed with the fact that he doesn't follow where this plan is going.

"They'll travel in a specially designed airport luggage container in the cargo compartment. Then when it's time, all you have to do is open the cargo hatch and close it when we're done." Bentley explains.

"One question, do you even have an airport luggage container in Chile ready to go? Because the next flight into Santiago leaves in 4 hours and I can make that flight." Murray says, poking the obvious hole through Bentley's plan.

"Not really." Bentley replies.

"As much as I love destruction and all, this is the safer and quicker route." Murray says. Who would have thought that Murray could win an intellectual argument with Bentley?

"Sometimes the best solution…" Murray starts.

"…Is the easiest one." Bentley completes. "OK, we'll do that then."

"Perfect." Murray says as he hangs up the phone. At that moment, a supervisor unlocks the door that Murray is working in.

"You're on the roster to Santiago and it leaves in 4 hours." She quickly says. "You need to get to Paris fast."

"Ok." Murray happily says, however she notices the cabin shaking violently in the background. Murray realises it too.

"Advanced training." Murray says casually as he fits his way through the doorway.


	17. The Difference of an Hour

**Chapter 16 – The Difference of an Hour**

**The Apartment, Paris, France. 8:18am 29****th**** April 2022**

Sly retrieves the ringing phone.

"Hello." He says.

"There's a flight that you'll be taking there. It leaves at 11:40am so you'll need to get ready soon." Bentley explains

"Thanks." Bentley says.

"If you change you're mind you have to do so in the next hour otherwise he's going to be feasting himself on cazuela in Chile." Bentley warns.

"Ok." Sly replies. He gives the thumbs up to Carmelita who is sitting next to him. "I understand."

"I haven't asked why you want this flight." Bentley says.

"This line is secure right?" Sly checks.

"100%" Bentley replies.

"I'm trying to get the painting to the island before something happens." Sly explains.

"Murray didn't say anything about that." Bentley says. "If you're that much in danger why don't you tell me?"

"I'm not in danger." Sly replies. Inside he knows otherwise. "I'm just tying off loose ends now that we've moved."

"Oh, I see. We wouldn't want it to be stolen." Bentley says. An awkward silence follows, then more seconds of awkward silence. It is at this point that Sly realises the lengths he has gone to in order of accomplish just this one tiny thing.

"Hold on a second Bentley, I've got an idea." Sly says. Sly returns to the original idea that he thought of at the start. He thinks he can pull it off now that he can see Penelope wandering around in the opposite apartment almost without a sense of purpose with the blanket still covering her body. Sly puts Bentley on hold and calls up Penelope again. He watches her move towards the phone and reach out from under the warmness of the blanket to pick it up.

"Yeah." She says tiredly, although less tired than before.

"Can you go to the island for me and deliver the painting?" Sly asks again.

"You think 60 extra minutes of sleep is gonna change my answer?" Penelope replies.

"I hoped so." Sly says.

"You'd be right." Penelope says. Sly wasn't expecting that.

"Great. When can you do it?" Sly asks.

"The sooner the better." She replies.

"Thanks Penelope." Sly says thankfully. Sly didn't want to have to go to the island. He wants to stay here and try and maintain some sense of stability in his kids. Plus, he doesn't want them to see the island at this age; they are not mature enough to fully comprehend the meaning of it or even the meaning of what they do.

"On one condition." Penelope adds.

"Go ahead." Sly says.

"It's about… Bentley." Penelope says, scared to even talk about the incident.

"Bentley?" Sly says confusedly. Maybe she knows what is wrong with him; but on the other side of the line, Penelope let's her increasingly audible emotions show.

"What?" Sly asks himself. "What did he do?" Sly asks to Penelope, expressing deep concern.

"He's a monster!" She shouts over the phone before deep panic breathing sets in.

"Hold on, hold on." Sly says, trying to calm things down.

"I'm coming over." Penelope shouts but without the fury of before, more in desperation.

"Look, do you want to talk to Carmelita about this? I'm not the one you should be speaking to." Sly asks. Carmelita is surprised she is being brought into this conversation.

There is no answer on the other side. Sly looks at the other side of the street and can't see Penelope in sight, he can't even spot the phone but he definitely sees the large blanket lying scrunched up over the couch.

"She's coming over here." Sly comments to Carmelita.

"What for?" She asks.

"Something bad must have happened to her, you can talk with her, you'll do better than whatever I can do." Sly says.

On the other set of apartment blocks, Penelope is racing down the flights of stairs to the ground floor and she runs as fast she can before the large entrance door prevents her from continuing on. She unlocks the door and she explodes out of the door but some klutz gets in her way and bundles her over.

"Are you okay?" He apologetically asks. But the mouse picks herself up and races across the empty street, all the traffic is being held up by the traffic lights. She stops at the intercom and hurriedly searches and presses the button for their apartment. She stands outside waiting restlessly, her leg shakes rapidly and the stationary position isn't making her feel any better. The dialling for the apartment is completed and the door unlocks. As soon as it happens, she pushes hard against it to open, reacting to the slight click of the door's lock unlatching from it's mechanism. She bounds up the stairs as quickly as she went down and finally reaches the correct door.

Down on the street, the trio of kids are returning to the apartment and they see this pink mouse fall over as she runs into someone's path and across into their apartment.

"She's going into your building." Matt comments. Erin doesn't need this at the moment. She is psyching herself up for the difficult task of convincing her father to let an outsider into their world and this weird event has made her loose focus. She doesn't want two things on her mind at the same time otherwise both thoughts could be neglected. She has never met Penelope in the flesh before, she had never decided to make the trip to Sweden and leave the lab alone, but Erin knows what she looks like due to the pictures she has and the descriptions of her given by the adults. Erin thinks that she sounds a lot like her.

Matt doesn't know what's going to happen, his suspicions haven't faded away or grown. He just thinks that they're going to show him something or rather. But this brief event makes the whole picture seems strange, It's like this apartment building is full of strange and secretive people.

The trio walk up to the door and get inside without the need to call for upstairs. They walk up the stairs casually, but in reality Erin is deliberately controlling the pace of their ascent in order to give her that little bit of extra time to think of the correct combination of words to explain this first part of her plan. After a deep, but quiet, breath, she begins.

"My parents don't like strangers, so you'll have to wait outside while I talk to my dad." Erin says in the calmest manner she can.

"Okay." Matt replies confusedly. "Are you're parents afraid of other people?"

It's a difficult question for Erin to answer, relying only on the things she remembers from her one brief skim through the Thievius Racoonus and all the stories Sly had told her even if she was a little reluctant to accept them, she begins her response.

"I don't know. They're afraid of some people and not of others." Erin replies. Alex, in his mind, is rejecting this answer. He believes his parents are the bravest and toughest people in the world, people who are just better than anyone else in the world. He wants to reject her understated claims but Erin is giving him that look. That look where you know that you have to shut up and not say anything even is the look is covert and brief.

When they get closer to the door, they hear shouting, angry shouting. Erin doesn't know how to react; Alex is reacting as if action is about to take place. The shouting inside is muffled but it doesn't take a genius to figure out what's going on. A heated argument is going on inside. Alex goes up to the door and presses his ear against the keyhole to listen in.

"…is out of control. You need to exert some sort of control on him." Penelope forcefully says.

"It's…" Sly says, about to start his defence of his friend but he is cut off by the angry Penelope.

"It's not his fault?!" She shouts. She can't comprehend the stupidity of that implied sentence.

"I didn't say more than a word and you get that from me?" Sly asks.

"You think this is just something that will pass over?" Penelope forcefully asks.

"Look, I don't know what you're going through now. But Carmelita does." Sly says, it is both an incredibly brave and at the same time an incredibly smart move. Referencing his lie of amnesia allows him to put Carmelita into the conversation whilst removing himself from this heated battle.

"Bye." Sly says with cheek, slinking out of the apartment like he always seems to do. Initially Carmelita isn't too fond of this joke, but his happy and fun nature is one of the reasons why she is attracted to him; so in the end, all she can do is smile.

"Hey." Sly says after seeing his children plus one on the landing of the stairs. Alex wanted to run after he saw his father walking out of the apartment but Erin didn't move an inch. Alex doesn't want to be portrayed as a coward.

"Back so early?" Sly asks kindly. "Who's your friend?"

"Dad, this is Matt." Erin introduces.

"Hello Mr. Olsen." Matt replies.

"Call me Martin." Sly says, assuming his fake name.

"Okay." Matt says. He's comfortable with that, but sceptical at the same time.

"It's not a good time to come inside right now, we're sorting some things out." Sly explains to the kids.

"We heard." Alex says.

"It's not a good idea to be spying on people." Sly explains. Of course he is blatantly lying to his own kids but it's to protect his identity from Matt, he doesn't want to give anything away. The instructions manuals have already told Alex and Erin about this type of situation, Bentley instructed them to lie their way through the conversation in order to protect themselves.

"Can I ask you something?" Matt asks to Sly.

"Sure." Sly says, he's hoping this will be an easy question.

"Does Alex play hide and seek a lot?" Matt asks. This takes Sly back to his own childhood.


	18. The Meaning of Winning

**Chapter 17 – The Meaning of Winning**

**11:33am 15****th**** May 1992**

It's only a few weeks into school for Sly and already he has established himself as the undisputed hide and seek champion of the school, mainly because his main hiding place is on the roof of the school where no one can see him and where no one thinks a child could climb up. He also was the undisputed champion in his year of almost every single sport from running to capture the flag.

"Sly!" The teacher shouts, hoping that he'll show himself and finish this game. "You've won, again."

Sly crawls from the centre of the roof to the edge before swinging himself down to slide down the drainage pipe. The teacher sees him walking away from the pipe and he's not pleased.

"Sly, don't climb up onto the roof, you'll get hurt." He warns. "New rule, No one is allowed on the roof. I thought I wouldn't have to say that." The other kids gather around now that the raccoon has been found.

"Sly, you're it." He states. This doesn't make this 8-year-old raccoon happy.

"But sir, I wasn't found first." Sly argues.

"Someone else can win this time." He says. Sly doesn't respond but the other kids are happier, they finally have a chance.

"Count to 60. Everyone go!" He says. Sly walks up to the side of a brick wall and faces it with his eyes closed counting to 60.

"1, 2, 3, 4…" Sly begins. The teacher is standing right next to him and he knows it.

"I'm sorry I have to say this, but if you don't change your attitude and let some other people win at games, I'm going to have to exclude you from sport so it's not unfair for the other students." He says, Sly continues counting throughout his ultimatum.

"I know you're athletically gifted and you like to show off a bit but it's not all about you, everyone is here to have fun and keep healthy." He explains.

"…57, 58, 59, 60." Sly finishes. Once he does finish, he dashes off from the wall and out to the playground where he knows everyone is hiding. He sprints across the yard and goes straight into every nook and cranny, pointing out people on the way. All of his classmates feel annoyed and yet surprised that he finds everyone so easily. Murray gets found trying to hide behind a tree but his girth is bigger than the tree's so he is easy to see. But Sly goes easy on him, leaving him till later until he reveals his position. Bentley is not playing sport, he chooses to sit in the library and read whatever scientific literature they have; that's before he covertly tinkers with their computers.

However, while Sly thinks he has impressed himself with his ability to pick out everyone in such a short amount of time, the teacher is none too pleased.

"Okay kids, you can have the last 10 minutes to yourselves." He announces. The other kids jump onto the playground whilst the teacher restrains Sly.

"You're not going anywhere." He says, putting his hand on Sly's shoulder.

"You're going to have to explain this to the principal." He explains. Sly thinks that this is an extremely harsh punishment for winning, what's wrong with winning?

"But I…" Sly protests.

"Now." He forcefully says in an attempt to dominate this little rebel.

Sly can't challenge his authority nor his physical prowess. For some misguided reason, Sly thinks, I am being punished. He has his reasons for going against this heavily ingrained policy of 'everybody's a winner' at school. Sly has been told by his father that there have to be winners and losers in everything. It's just that the meaning of winning and losing is different for others.

Sly is escorted by the phys ed teacher into the principal's office after having waited outside for her to finish a phone call.

"Come in." The older but skinny grey furred cat says. In some ways she reminds him of Ms Puffin.

"Thank you Mrs. Harding." The teacher replies. They both sit down on the two chairs facing her desk whilst she sits in the large office chair on the other side.

"I understand Mr. Cooper is not playing fair." She starts before turning directly to Sly. "You've been quite the trouble maker since you've arrived and it's making my patience wear thin"

Sly doesn't respond.

"George, can you leave the room? I want to talk with young Sly here alone." She says. George gets up and leave the room and shuts the door on the way out. Sly becomes slightly scared of what she's doing to say to him next but he remains resilient. Nothing can make him more scared than seeing his parents get murdered. She pulls out a file containing several sheets of paper inside.

"Only 4 weeks you've been here and yet you've stirred up so much trouble in my school, what do you have to say for yourself?" She asks.

"Why am I in trouble?" Sly asks. She takes out a sheet of paper with the list of his infarctions on it and looks at it.

"Because you've got somewhat of a penchant for theft and winning." She says. Sly's face looks confused at the language used.

"You like to steal things?" She asks. "Why?"

Sly remains silent.

"Are you in some gang of thieves stealing chip packets from little girls?" She asks.

Sly still remains silent.

"You may think we don't know but we do. Theft has consequences, not only for the punishment for you, but also the loss of the item from the victim. In the past week; you have stolen a bag of marbles, 3 toy cars, a chocolate bar…" She says, listing off all of the acts of thievery that Sly has done. Incredibly, Sly has the bravery to cut her off.

"He deserved it." Sly protests.

"Excuse me?!" She says.

"He gave a wedgie to my friend then dunked him in the toilet." Sly argues.

"No matter how much you think that," She says before looking at the sheet to get the name of the student. "Danny deserves it, it doesn't make it okay. No stealing under any circumstances or we'll have to send you back to the orphanage." Sly doesn't want to have to stay with Ms Puffin all day while his friends stay at school, it would be torture. She can see that fact in the way he gulps as she even mentions the mere possibility of it happening.

"So, do we have a deal?" She asks.

Sly remains silent

"Do, we have, a deal?" She asks, slowly and clearly but also loudly whilst leaning forward. Sly doesn't want to have this extra attention on him. If he ever wants to go after the murderers, whilst that seems so far away, he needs to practice.

Sly defiantly stands up from the chair. She also stands up to assert her dominance over Sly. They engage in a stare.

"Just say yes!" She says, raising her tone. Sly's willpower is being tested severely, but he has a faith and confidence in himself that she doesn't expect someone so young to have.

"When you look back on this later in your life I hope you see how wrong you are when you're in jail. You are expelled! Get out my sight!" She shouts. Sly just walks out with a look at indifference that shocks her. And what cheek to stand up to her like that!

And oh the irony.

When Sly leaves the office, Bentley and Murray are sitting outside, waiting for him.

"I got expelled." Sly says. "She's crazy, like Ms. Puffin crazy."

"What did you do to make her that angry?" Murray asks, about to laugh about the whole thing.

"Nothing." Sly replies.

"So got sent inside because you won too much and now you're expelled? I may know a lot of things but I'll never fully understand the logic behind that." Bentley says.

"I guess I'm going to miss you guys." Sly says.

"Who said you have to, we're going to leave too." Bentley says, Murray nods beside him.

"When someone offers to do that for you, you know you have the best of friends." Sly says before they walk outside.

"You're not upset, I thought you love this place?" Sly asks, worrying about his friend, it's probably the only thing he is worried about now that they are leaving the school.

"School is getting boring." Bentley starts. "I've already learnt everything I can here."

That was the last time any of them went to a school again.


	19. Implosion

**Chapter 18 – Implosion**

**The landing outside the apartment, Paris, France. 8:31am 29****th**** April 2022.**

"He plays a bit." Sly answers to Matt. Out in those trees by the lake or even inside the cabin they would play this game to help their hiding skills. "Why do you ask?"

"It's cause I played the best game ever." Alex happily explains.

"That's great son." Sly replies.

"It was like I was invisible." Alex comments

For that brief second, Sly becomes frozen, almost paralysed to an extent. It's like he has been electrocuted, becoming rigid. His heart skips a beat, the adrenaline kicks in, he tries to remain calm. It couldn't possibly be?

"I was under the bed right, and I was playing against Matt's brothers and, I don't know how, but I was sure they saw me…" Alex says.

"Yeah." Sly slowly says, but it's not towards anyone. It's just slipped out there in the open while his mind was racing on other things. The kids are confused by his reaction.

"Dad?" Erin asks, concerned for her blankly staring dad, as if he was daydreaming. This takes him out of it.

"Yeah." Sly replies, this time it is towards Erin.

"Can I talk to you in private?" She asks. So many things for Sly to handle at once.

"Not right now." Sly responds.

"But it's kinda important." She says.

"I'm in the middle of something." Sly says.

"Talking to us?" Alex asks.

"It's very important." Sly replies.

"To talk to us?" Alex asks.

"No, what I'm doing inside is important." Sly explains.

"But you're outside." Erin notes.

"Your mother is sorting some things out with a family friend." Sly explains.

"Who?" Alex asks.

"Penelope." Erin whispers to Alex.

"Who?" Matt asks.

"A family friend." She says calmly.

"What are you doing?" Alex asks.

"Something important." Sly explains. On the outside it seems like he has infinite patience, on the inside he is getting a bit tired of their constant questions. On the other hand, Matt just feels like he's been caught up in some family dispute. But for him, it's better than having to be bullied by his older brothers whenever they do something wrong on their game.

"What?" Alex asks.

"Something important." Sly repeats.

"What?" Alex asks.

"You don't need to know." Sly says.

"Please." Alex begs.

"Not…" Sly beings but a shout through the door interrupts him.

"Sly, I'm going to need the cane." Penelope shouts, but it's muffled by the door.

"Okay." Sly replies back through the door.

"Why?" Erin asks.

"Is it mine or hers?" Alex asks, more concerned about the fact his newly acquired possession is going to be taken from him.

Sly remains silent, he won't answer any of these questions while the stranger is here.

"I'm going to get breakfast." Matt announces, it's getting a bit out of hand and too confusing for his liking.

"No." Erin says, holding him back. She now turns to her father. "Dad, Can we tell the truth to Matt now? He's a good friend to both of us."

"Truth?" Matt asks. His tiny feeling of suspicion that he has played down during their walk back has now exploded. At first glance, Sly seems to be shocked that she would ask this question already after being here for a few days. Least of all, he didn't expect Erin to ask this question at all due to her more cautious nature. But she has proved him wrong and now it seems she has put him in the position where it would be difficult to deflect their identity aside for any longer.

"Please." She asks to her father.

"I guess I have no choice." Sly says. "But not here."

"What do you mean by, truth? Are you... urgh!" Matt exclaims, his reality suddenly becoming dreamlike, as if this is happening not in the world he lives in. So many things have happened this morning that seemed impossible according to Matt. How did Alex have his key when he had it taken off him? Was what Alex was saying somehow true? But even for this rat of above average intelligence, he doesn't have the capacity to take in such drastic changes in such short amounts of time. It's like having a wall knocked down only to find that the new bricks that you expect are different and the cement hasn't arrived yet. He can't accept the changes so quickly, he made a conscious effort to remember their names the night before; What if they are different? What if Alex is not really Alex but Michael, or Aaron, or Kevin? He doesn't know anything about them anymore.

Matt becomes hysterical, as he is unable to wrap his mind around this problem.

"No. What?" Matt says, checking himself before reanalysing the concerned faces around him. At least he's proven to himself that he is indeed awake and alive.

"Are you okay?" Sly asks. He's puzzled by this reaction; he's seen no one implode emotionally like this before since Penelope betrayed Bentley, but not over something so seemingly small. Surely 8 years of togetherness is different to 2 days of friendship.

Matt wants to run, to get to somewhere that isn't here. But he feels shackled by the overwhelming physical domination of Erin beside him. They would hold him back if he tried to escape he thinks.

But right now, he does what he does and not what he thinks. He turns and runs down the stairs as fast as possible. He surprises himself in making it further than a metre but realises no one is chasing him down the stairs. He keeps going, hoping that the relative safety of the outside world can give him the safe and expected perspective he hopes for. But his path is blocked, literally, by the fast opening door in the apartment building. He collides as he has no time to react and slow down. The thud he makes against the wooden door sounds like one loud knock. He tries to maintain his balance but it never materialises and he hits the carpeted stairs.


	20. Bizarre Apartment Triangle

**Chapter 19 – Bizarre Apartment Triangle**

**The apartment building, Paris, France. 8:35am 29****th**** April 2022.**

It was not Jeremy's intention to knock this kid down in his path. The noise echoing down from the top of the staircase was becoming irritating as he was waiting while the oven was heating up some croissants. He thought the noise would pass, just like everything did inside this building but it stayed and he was not going to tolerate it, his own tolerance on everything being pencil thin after having several years of kids beating down on it. In his world, everything is how he wants it. Everything does what it does and makes what it makes; they don't bully him or beat him up and he hopes the outside world doesn't have to encroach on his little slice of peace.

"I'm so sorry." He apologises before turning past the door to look who he has accidentally hit. His apologetic feelings erode slowly as he sees that it is that spying rat he has knocked over. He feels somewhat, good. He was getting annoying and he got what he deserved he thinks to himself. The feeling of power he has over him takes over briefly.

It's a feeling that he wants to feel again.

Matt starts to get back to his feet although he feels sore after this collision in his left side, as that's where the door hit him. He sees the skunk peeking around the side of the door and he thinks that he's in for it, but the skunk slinks back into his apartment and shuts the door to remove himself from the scene. Alex and Erin come scampering down the stairs to find Matt trying to get up on his feet. Matt no longer wants to run; it hurts too much to even try.

"Matt." Erin says concerningly, watching as she sees him holding the side of his head.

"Ow." Matt groans in pain.

"Do you need help?" She asks, she's the one who arrived just ahead of Alex while Sly is casually walking down the stairs. Matt tries to walk on his own, he has a slight limp on his left leg but he manages to stay on his two feet.

"I'm okay." Matt responds.

"What happened?" Alex asks.

"I ran into the door." Matt explains. "It opened as I ran past."

"Matt, do you need any help?" Sly calls out from higher above, still walking down to them.

"I'm okay." Matt answers. He would say 'thanks Mr. Olsen' but he doesn't know if that's his name anymore.

"Was it who lives in that apartment that did it?" Sly asks to Matt.

"Yeah." Matt replies.

"I'm just gonna talk to the tenant and clear things out." Sly says, moving towards the door.

"He said he was sorry." Matt says.

"I'll just see if he's okay." Sly explains. Sly knocks on the door to the apartment with Alex and Erin sitting on the stairs with Matt whilst watching Sly.

The door opens, and Sly almost has a heart attack.

"Yes." Jeremy answers. The jolt that went through Sly as he saw Jeremy was visible to all. Jeremy takes offense to it.

"You seem surprised to see me, if it's about the rat then I can't do anything else but say sorry." Jeremy says whilst trying to close the door slowly. But Sly won't let that happen, he holds the door open just a bit so he can get a good look at this skunk, just to make sure. With a curious but suspicious look on his face, Sly shuts the door as slowly as Jeremy wanted to close it. It seems Matt is not the only one trapped between difficulties. Sly walks silently away from the door and look across to the opposite wall, trying to give himself time to explain to himself in his head everything that has just happened. First, it was about moving the Mona Lisa and then it was about revealing the truth to the rat.

And now…

It's too much to take in for one day, let alone one morning or even the last 20 minutes.

"I'm… I'm going to check on your mom." Sly says to the kids, trying to give himself an excuse to remove himself from the kids. Sly walks past the kids as if they weren't there, he doesn't look at them or even notices that they shuffle to the side to let him pass. The trio of kids wait for Sly to move out of the way and move away so they can chat between themselves in order to sort out this situation.

"I don't know what that's about." Erin says, curious to know what made her father jump at Jeremy.

"It must be something inside the apartment." Alex concludes.

"Does he know Jeremy from somewhere?" Matt asks.

"Not that I know of." Alex says. Since Sly isn't there, Matt now feels more able to ask them about who they are. He has no choice but to ask directly. All the assumptions and presumptions about them have been wiped away and his need to know is greater than his fear to ask.

"So." Matt begins. One word is enough more him to continue on with the rest of the question.

"…who are you?" Matt asks.

A flight of stairs above, Sly is trudging back to the apartment to get back to something easier, like helping to traffic a priceless work of art. But the door opens and it's Penelope leaving with two hard cases. One small rectangular one for the painting which used to hold the copy of the Thievius Raccoonus and the long case containing the cane that will unlock the vault at Kaine Island. She walks past the trudging Sly and look sat his hanging face that hangs due to all of the weight of these various situations he has to deal with. She feels concerned about Sly but she is on a mission that needs to be done, it will keep her busy and occupied on something other than Bentley. She goes down and spots the kids sitting on the stairs talking to each other.

"...name is Cooper and not Olsen, why is that so much of a secret?" She hears Matt ask to the kids.

"A lot is in a name." Penelope answers as she walks down the stairs.

"Who is she?" Matt whispers to Alex, but Alex is not focused on Matt but on the long thin case she is carrying.

"I'm not your mother if that's what you're thinking." Penelope replies.

"Who's case is that?" Alex asks.

"Your father said I could borrow it for a couple of days." She replies.

"But, It's mine." Alex rebuts.

"It's for something important, you'll get it back when I'm done." Penelope replies.

"It's mine, give it back." Alex says.

"You'll have it back before you know it." Penelope reassures him, stepping past them. Alex tries to snatch the case off of Penelope, pulling it back to himself.

"Come on, I need to do this." Penelope urges, pulling back the case with the hand she is holding it with. The mouse pulls harder than the young raccoon, whose hands slip off the hard black plastic exterior. Alex chases after her to go for a second effort, Erin walks down just so she can keep an eye on him.

"Give it back." Alex says, grasping the back of the case again. This time Penelope doesn't react to him, but keeps on walking as if she doesn't hear or even feel him trying to pull the case back. She continues descending down the stairs whilst Alex can't get a firm grip on the case. This tussle continues down to the ground floor, where Penelope just continues ignoring the pleas from Alex to give back his possession. As Penelope walks through the front door, Alex realises all his attempts are futile and stops short of the wide world. He feels angry that he couldn't get it back, even this short and skinny mouse was able to fend him off with ease. The bright sunlight that enters the lobby area illuminates the dim and dark lobby and Alex as well. The light blinds Alex whose eyes have been adjusted to the dim light in the stairwell, it's like she disappeared into a beam of light along with his cane.

Alex feels helpless, powerless, weak, sad, angry, disappointed, betrayed.

Erin catches up with Alex with Matt trailing behind.

"Why would he let her take it?" Alex asks to the approaching duo whilst on the verge of tears.

"It must have been important, I'm sure he didn't do it to make you upset." Matt says to console him.

"But it's mine, he can't just take it from me." Alex cries out while the tears are flowing. He doesn't realise the irony of that statement, but Erin does.

"It's what he is. What we are." Erin explains.

"Which is what?" Matt asks. There is a pause as Alex quietens down and wipes away the last of the tears, even then there is more quietness.

"My dad can explain everything." Erin explains. "Come on."

She stands up and waits for Matt to do the same. She also waits for Alex to walk slowly back towards the foot of the stairs before they start the walk back up to the top. Alex still feels as if he is insignificant amongst the affairs of the adults, they just demonstrated their dominion over him and their ability to do what they want, whenever they want. Someday they'll be able to do that, they'll be in control, but that seems so far away.


	21. Watching and Waiting

**Chapter 20 – Watching and Waiting**

**Outside the apartment, Paris, France. 8:42am 29****th**** April 2022.**

Leaning against the shop window whilst drinking his 3rd coffee of the morning seems to be a very easy job for this particular badger to do on a Saturday morning. He gets to watch the people go by whilst having his earbuds in his ears, listening to the sounds of the people he has an interest in. Sometimes cars come past and it makes it harder for him to listen to this recording but thanks to the noise cancelling these ear buds it gets blocked out by the destructive interference it outputs. It makes it easier for him this morning that the weather is at least pleasant. It's not too cold this morning but he wears a long sleeve shirt underneath the black polar fleece jacket, just in case a cold breeze come past due to the movement of the cars on the street.

He can't help but smile to himself at how this recording is going, it's the first time he has listened to it and it's going so well for him and anyone else who may be listening to it. But whenever he does smile he feels the pain from his jaw from where he got punched last night. There is no visible evidence of it happening, he has nothing to show for it. However, that moment is far behind him now; their little group always seems to heal itself together the next day. His simple task for the morning seemed so easy that anyone off the street could do it. Who amongst the world's population can't make something look like an accident? All he had to do was be in the right place at the right time and from then on, the rest just followed.

The hard part was concealing the bug he placed on her when they collided.

It's times like these for David when he listens in on this live recording when he loves his job. Despite having a maniac boss, he knows there is no one more driven than the weasel he works with and that means that things happen more directly than at the police station above where they work. David has even surprised himself that this bug has lasted this long considering all of the high value fugitives around him who would surely notice any wire or bug that is attached to someone in an instant, let alone that he is getting all this information that this mouse and everyone around her is leaking out is comparable to a burst dam. Except for the fact they don't realise that there is a leak yet. He can't possibly decipher all of the terms they are using; 'island' and 'cane' seem to have no apparent meaning behind them. But words like; 'painting' and 'vault', make him conclude that they must be moving The Mona Lisa to a more secure location, it was in that apartment the whole time for the past 3 days.

When he sees Penelope walk out of the apartment holding two differently shaped cases, he knows immediately which one the painting is in. The long and thin case can't possibly fit the paintings dimensions. But he doesn't know what may be inside; could it be another arm of this criminal's wide range of activities? It could be anything from weapons, drugs, counterfeit money, perhaps even more stolen art. One thing is for sure; he wants to find out.

"Has she left the building?" The weasel asks on the other end of the line, David doesn't need to lift his arms but speaks into the microphone attached to the wire that rests near his mouth.

"Yes sir, heading north east to the river." He replies.

"Good, I was just checking the accuracy of this bug." The weasel replies. The bug also has a tiny GPS transmitter attached to it so they know where she is, as well as geo-tagging the conversations she has.

"She's carrying two black cases, one must have the painting inside." David reports, still watching her walk down the street from his stationary position.

"Do you know which one?" The weasel asks.

"It doesn't take a genius to figure it out." David replies.

"I can't see her, give me a description." The weasel demands, annoyed at his colleagues vague answer.

"One looks like a clarinet case and the other looks like a trombone case without the bulge at the front." David explains. This is not good enough for the weasel.

"That doesn't help me at all!" He shouts. Luckily for David, the volume adjusts automatically so it sounds the same loudness to him, so he can watch this mouse walk along with the same look of indifference mixed with a wry smile, no matter how loud he yells at him.

"Just relax, she's not leaving in a hurry." He says, now moving along the opposite side of the street to Penelope to keep an eye on her.

"I don't care! Just give me the details." The weasel shouts again.

"It's a nice morning and you're ruining it with all your shouting." David says jokingly. Being separated from his boss with a telephone connection allows him to crack all the jokes he wants while he listens to his boss fume over the airwaves.

"Come on, I dare you cut this call." David taunts. He knows he won't do it; he needs the visual information that he can give.

"You see this is the time when, if you were here, I'd punch you in the exact same spot I punched you last night; just to make that much more painful." The weasel warns. "But you've set this up pretty well for yourself, you must be having a fun time over there."

"It could be better." David notes.

"How? What do you think would make this morning any better to the way it's gone now." The weasel asks sarcastically.

"A 4th cup of coffee." David replies. It's one of the few things that the weasel can sympathise with. In fact, he's on his 8th one for the day since being up at 5am to get the sting set up. Thank heavens that the coffee machine in their office seems to be the only machine that lasts for any reasonable period of time.

"So about those descriptions." The weasel starts, his patience wearing thin.

"One looks like a case made for the painting and the other seems to be made by the same person, just in a long thin shape like it holds a tripod or something like that." David explains.

"Must be made by their tech guy, Bentley." The weasel replies. He paused as Bentley's name was shown to him on a piece of paper along with all of these things they know about him so far. "They'll be difficult to crack open."

"Do you want me to watch her for a bit? See where she's going." David asks.

"Why not? I don't have any other use for you." The weasel responds. David doesn't know whether it's a complement or not, but in the interest of his own self-esteem, he choose the more positive option.

"Great, it means I don't have to be within striking distance of your fist." David replies. The weasel smiles at this comment, it means they recognise his standing at the top of this group. The call goes dead and the badger goes back to listening the static on the bug that only picks up the surrounding sounds of the outside world, all the sounds that David could hear if he took is ear buds out. From his position, it looks the like mouse is not in a rush but also not relaxing at the same time; A kind of middle ground compromise between the two extremes. From the direction she is going, it doesn't point to any obvious destination yet. The train station is too far away to walk and the nearest metro station was in the opposite direction, which is also where the nearest bus stop is. Therefore, David thinks she must be within walking distance of the handoff or buyer. It means he can go back to the office and be harassed and berated by his boss amongst the seemingly endless amount of background work the weasel wants done. He says that he's being thorough but David thinks he's gone a bit too far; Does knowing the parent's of each of these gang of thieves going to help at all?


	22. Parental Control

**Chapter 21 – Parental Control **

**The Apartment, Paris, France. 8:44am 29 April 2022.**

"Who are you?" Matt asks directly to Sly who is sitting opposite him on the couch while Alex and Erin flank him on either side of the other couch.

All of the fears that Erin had about revealing their world to Matt had been over exaggerated; Sly had now welcomed them in with open arms, the initial hurdle has been overcome. Even Carmelita isn't fussed about this; their attention is drawn towards their dad's arguably more interesting life than hers. She will not even dare to think about what had happened during her childhood, let alone tell it to her family. It is that private to her and Sly respects that. But at the same time, she thinks it's a cowardly move to hide her past from them. Sly has told many stories (mainly to Alex) about what he has done in his past, from daring heists to funny stories about his fellow gang members, but nothing about the woman he loves.

"Well, I should probably just start at the beginning." Sly says, about to go into an almost rehearsed introduction. "My name's not Martin, it's Sly Cooper." The raccoon is completely relaxed about telling this to him.

"And when I was younger and fitter, I was a master criminal, a thief." Sly explains. Matt is in wonderland, all this excitement in one day.

"Sadly, for me, there was this one cop that was always after me." Sly says, this captures Carmelita's attention. She is isolating herself in the kitchen, pretending to be busy so she doesn't have to be subjected to these questions.

"She was always one step behind, but I knew that I loved her." Sly explains, setting it up for the hook.

"Who?" Matt asks. Alex and Erin know perfectly well who he is taking about.

"You're a bit young to know this or think about it, but love transcends all boundaries. It doesn't matter who you are or what you differences are, if you love each other then it will happen. For love is blind, and lovers cannot see." Sly explains.

"So what happened to her?" Matt asks, he is too hyped up to see past all of the smoke and mirrors.

"That, 'her', is my mother." Erin says, cutting off whatever Sly was about to say; the extremely long build up was becoming excruitiatingly painful for Alex and Erin to listen to.

"And mine." Alex notes.

"Okay, our mother." Erin corrects.

"Where is she?" Matt asks. Carmelita can hear all of this; she is in two minds about what to do. She thinks of the irony of how Sly, the master of stealth and hiding, can say all of this and yet she casts herself away at the very mention that some personal questions are coming in her direction.

"She's busy." Sly flatly says, covering for Carmelita.

"Doing awesome police work?" Matt asks hopefully. For him, that would just top off what would be the coolest family he knows of or will ever know.

"No, ah, it's complicated but we're both together and that's what matters." Sly says.

"Tell me." Matt says.

"You can hear it from your friends, they'll explain it better than I can." Sly answers. "I'm getting breakfast."

"Can you make me mine please?" Alex asks quickly.

"Didn't you eat whilst you were out?" Sly asks.

"No." Alex answers.

"I'll do it, but remember; don't skip meals." Sly warns.

"I know dad." Alex replies.

"Good." Sly says, getting up out of the couch and heading towards the kitchen. It's not his primary intention to get breakfast for Alex, but to check on his partner. Sly hears his son's interpretation of what he did based on the stories he told him, he doubts that Alex has delved into his copy of the Thievius Raccoonus; probably because he believes that it's not the real thing. But no matter how much reading Alex has done, Sly thinks his explanation to his new friend is surprisingly accurate.

Sly enters into the compact kitchen, they can hardly move past each other as Sly reaches into a box of cereal. Not a word is spoken between them as Sly carefully pours each of the flakes into the empty bowl, making sure not to spill any. At least some of his skills are transferable into their 'normal' life. It becomes apparent to Sly as he reaches into the fridge for some milk to complement the cereal that Carmelita is motionless. She is standing facing opposite the wall with one hand leaning on the bench top. Sly backs out of the fridge and places the cold milk carton on the opposite bench and leans over the bench to look at Carmelita. He reaches out a hand and clicks his fingers in front of her face hoping that, like a magician, it will take her out of her trance. But it doesn't work, so he waves his hand in front in another futile attempt to get her out of whatever she is experiencing inside her head.

"Carm" Sly asks to his partner. "You there?" A long and slow exhale comes from Carmelita.

"You okay?" Sly asks concernedly. Still no speech comes from the female vixen. He wants to support her; he wants to help her through whatever she is struggling with but it's hard to do so when you can't read minds.

He looks back at one more time as he takes the milk and cereal along with a spoon for Alex.

"Alex." Sly announces to get his attention.

"Thanks dad." Alex replies as he receives his food.

"I there anything else you want?" Sly asks.

"My cane back." Alex answers. That's not want he wanted to hear, especially considering how difficult a topic it is to explain to Matt if he indeed is listening.

"You'll get it back soon." Sly replies, attempting to deflect this question away.

"When is soon?" Alex asks.

"2 days, roughly." Sly answers.

"You took it from me!" Alex accuses Sly.

"You'll understand one day why I have to do all of these things."

"But it's mine." Alex retorts.

"The world isn't fair." Sly replies back.

"You can't just say that!" Alex says loudly, getting up off the couch to face his father.

"I don't have to say that because that's how it is." Sly explains, trying to assert his dominion.

"Such a pathetic excuse." Alex replies, about to try and wrestle his father to the ground.

"Paying attention in class I see." Erin jokes. It diverts Alex's attention away from Sly and makes him turn around to her instead. Alex leaps onto the couch, trying to inflict some sort of physical punishment on his sister to pay for that comment. Matt moves away from the couch, eager to not get caught in a physical battle with these two racoons. Sly moves in quickly to separate his two kids from each other, forcing himself in between them on the couch with Matt stranded.

In Matt's head, he wonders how he has gotten so worked up about the cane, the one that must have been inside that box that Alex was trying to pry off the mouse. At first, Matt thought it might have been his favourite toy or something like that. But it seems to not be so considering that their dad is being shady about it's purpose.

"Should I leave now?" Matt asks to Sly, who is still separating the kids from each other with outstretched arms. But Sly doesn't answer, he's too busy focusing on his own children.

"Stop it. Both of you!" Sly shouts, turning his head quickly to them to make sure they both get the message. The young Cooper's give in to their dad's pressure and sit themselves back up on the couch, although Sly still creates a barrier to keep them separate. Only after doing this that he notices Carmelita watching from the other side of the room. He's not sure if he's doing well or bad in her eyes, those fiery eyes.

"Can you give me some help, please?" Sly asks to Carmelita, who now moves in towards them.

"It looks like you've got it under control." Carmelita responds. Sly doesn't know whether she is being sarcastic or not. "Erin, go to your room."

This infuriates her as she wasn't the one that started the fighting, but she knows better than to challenge her parents after seeing what has just happened. She gets herself off the couch and walks over to her bedroom, shutting the door once she's inside. Now that she has gotten away from all of this commotion of the real world and finally managed to isolate herself in here, she can finally get started on reading the Thievius Raccoonus. She wants to know everything about her family's ancestors and unravel the mysteries behind her father. She unlocks the case that holds the Thievius Raccoonus and carefully lifts it out of it's protective foam padding and places it on the desk before sitting down at the chair. Most 8 year olds wouldn't be reading books on the weekend; they've all been transferred into digital copies.

Erin grasps the front cover of this leather bound tome of thieving knowledge and slowly opens to the first page, containing the oldest inscriptions from Ancient Egypt. It all feels so daunting for her, having the knowledge that this family has spanned over 100 generations, having the knowledge that somehow she'd have to do the same and uphold this infamous name. She can hear the door to her bedroom unlatching slowly, trying not to make a noise, but the creaky lock is doesn't allow for that to happen. She stops looking at this first page and watches as one leg reaches into her bedroom, followed by the rest of Matt, trying to be sneaky and stealthy himself in order to get inside her bedroom. He shuts the door as slowly as he had opened it and by the time he finishes and looks at Erin, he feels as if he didn't do a good job.

"I'm not that good." Matt says, worried that's he's pushing the limits around them in terms of emulating them. He will never be able to. Erin weights up whether to be blunt about it or not.

"It's not for everyone." Erin replies quietly.

"What book is that?" Matt asks. "The Thievius Raccoonus?" He says, sounding out the complex syllables written on the front cover.

"It's a family book." Erin replies. Matt lifts up the cover, looking at the Cooper symbol on the front. Erin didn't really want him to do that, but all the secrets have come out anyway, so the hesitations inside of her wane.

"What's it mean on the front? Do you have some sort of symbol for yourselves?" Matt asks.

"Yeah." Erin says, trying to not make a big deal of it. Matt feels the raised leather that creates a three dimensional depth to the symbol on the front.

"It's really old so don't do that." Erin asks.

"Sorry." Matt says, pulling his hand away. He moves to the bed and sits on it whilst facing Erin who is reading the Thievius Raccoonus, turning to the more recent thieves in the Cooper line. She begins to realise the pattern that is continually present in each iteration of the Cooper gang. Matt just lies down on the bed, facing the roof. It's better than being at home; even the sound of the pages turning in the book is much better than simulated gunfire.

"If you already knew what you were going to be, would you try and change it?" Erin asks to Matt.

"It would be easier than not knowing I guess. It means you have something to focus on. I mean, I don't know what else to do apart from go to school. I hope something will get my attention when I'm older, then I'll have something to do and work towards instead of lying around and trying to build weird gadgets from old bits of metal at the junkyard." Matt explains. It's only after he finishes his thoughts that he realises that it applies to Erin. "So you have to become a criminal as well?"

"I don't know, my family is complicated." Erin replies.

"Try me." Matt says.

"What?" Erin asks, not knowing what this expression means.

"I'll understand." Matt optimistically says. Erin doubts it despite his obvious intelligence. She has her hesitations.

"What if I told you that my family goes back to ancient Egypt?" Erin asks.

"And what if I told you that I'm an elephant?" Matt replies back. The serious look on Erin's face tells Matt that her supposed rhetorical question was not rhetorical at all but true.

"Let me guess, all of them are criminals." Matt says, trying to work it out for himself in an effort to prove that he understands their world despite the limited amount of information he is given.

"Thieves." Erin corrects.

"That's like, being able to trace evolution." Matt says. Erin is familiar with the concept. "That means you'll be the best thief out of all of them."

Erin doesn't know if he is complementing her or just being scientific.

"Since your family never gets caught, it means you keep lasting and then are able to produce better, more able thieves." Matt thinks out loud. She is surprised at how much he is thinking about this.

"Why do you care so much?" Erin asks as she turns another page.

"Because it's better than what I have to go back to." Matt replies. "I don't know my grand parents and I haven't seen my parents all my life. Your life is way more interesting. It's just better than mine."

"Try me." Erin counters, picking up on what Matt said earlier.

"I can't, I don't know anything." Matt says. It's one of the things he doesn't know. In terms of knowledge about their ancestors, these two kids are at the complete opposite ends of the scale. Erin doesn't know what it would be like to not have a family or even not knowing her family, it would be isolating and make her feel alone. She has to look back at Matt to remind herself that she is not alone, despite her family just being in the other room.


	23. Leaving the Country

**Chapter 22 – Leaving the Country**

**Paris, France. 9:34am 29****th**** April 2022.**

The amount of prime Parisian land that is used to make space for all of the train lines that she can see from either side of this RER train makes her feel small in comparison. It's like this train is shunned from civilisation, moved away from any buildings or residences. This carriage she sits in, watching the various buildings go by from the window isn't packed, nor is it even near capacity, she can only count 12 others on this carriage, taking this same journey she is to the airport. Since no one is on it, her special goods have the space to rest on the bench seat opposite her. The further this train goes, the further away she goes from Bentley; one of the group she used to have feelings for. She wonders if she would ever step back into that lab again whilst the turtle is occupying it. It is an amazing lab, by far the best she had ever seen or worked in, but does Bentley _deserve_ her back? It would depend on what he is doing now; if one of these train passengers is out to get her because of what she has done then it would prove how entrenched his views on her really are. But she wouldn't dare call back; no doubt Bentley would have some sort of plan for when she did.

However, she feels lonely. Having only these two black cases for company for the next 2 days doesn't make the three of them a crowd. For most of this journey, she is at the whim of public transportation. She can't focus on doing something when there is nothing that needs to be focused on, this mission is essentially a delivery after all. But there is one thing on her mind though, it's how she will be able to get on the plane. Her passport is still with those pricks that took her, Sly must have not seen her gear when he went inside. Penelope hopes that Murray can work something out for her, otherwise she would be swiftly returned to the police station before being handed over to her captors again.

One of which is on this train right now.

True to his word, David has followed her from her taxi ride to the station to getting on the same train. He makes sure to sit behind her so she can't look at him and possibly recognise him. He rolls his memories back to when she was inside that storage cupboard that served well as a makeshift prison. Did he ever make eye contact with her? He doesn't know what she could see from inside that cupboard with it's poorly fitted door that allowed her to peak out. Would she recognise him from this morning? He doesn't know. He still has one ear bud in his ear, just in case she becomes desperate and starts talking to herself, but for the most part all he can hear is breathing. He can see how tired and despondent she is from the way she is slumped over towards the window. David and his team have theories as to why she has appeared in Paris so soon after their major breakthrough; ranging from the plausible to the ludicrous. They know she has come from Amsterdam, the location of Bentley's lab. But the why is elusive.

Penelope realises another aspect of this trip that has been overlooked, she doesn't even have a ticket for this plane trip, nor the money to pay for it at the counter. And how would she get through security, considering that Interpol have her on a red notice after her escape from their clutches. There is no way to hack into the systems or send money without electronic equipment, she has no other items to carry apart from the 2 cases and the clothes on her back. David knows this; he is weighing up the option of getting closer to her. Perhaps even travel with her to get to the destination she is going to. The risk of doing it would be high, given that has been within 5 metres of her in 4 situations in the past 24 hours. David is equally as bored as Penelope is on this trundling train. There is nothing new for him to analyse or take note of. Maybe each other's company is exactly what they both need. In any case, he can't speak to her normally; his broad English accent would give him away instantly. He has worked in France for the majority of this case and knows how to give a French pronunciation. But good enough to fool a genius? His hesitations make him hold back on such a plan, at least until she has a reason to need someone else's help.

It continues like this until the train arrives below the airport. Penelope is in no rush to get off quickly, but she does gather her cases before the automatic doors open. She slowly walks off the train whilst being trailed by David towards the international terminal. This morning, the platform isn't crowded or busy so there are few obstacles to the airport itself. Penelope continues walking until she reaches the small and cramped electric shuttle that ferries passengers between terminals. In contrast to the train ride earlier, this shuttle is packed with everyone from families about to go away for the weekend or business men and women on trips requiring only carry on bags. In David's ear, Penelope hasn't said a word so the bug just amplifies the roaring sound of the wheels against the rails.

Once inside the terminal, Penelope looks for a payphone. She needs to phone Sly to get some advice on getting on this flight given that she has no passport or money, not even money to pay for the call she is making. These very basic things weren't on her mind when Sly explained the plan to her, perhaps she'd thought that he'd have everything sorted out. Penelope goes to reverse charge this call back to the apartment.

"Yes?" Carmelita answers.

"Is…" She says before looking around to check to see if anyone is watching her. "Is Sly there?" She whispers.

"What do you need?" Carmelita asks, hoping to be able to deal with this situation herself.

"I'm not sure if I can get on the flight, can you please put him on?" Penelope pleads.

"Hold on." One second later, Sly answers.

"What is it?" Sly asks quickly.

"How am I meant to get on the plane when I have no passport or money or tickets?" Penelope asks. David can't hear the replies on the phone, only what Penelope says.

"Can you do something about it?" Penelope asks. Sly is frozen at how such an oversight could have occurred.

"Yeah, sure. I'm going to call Murray to see what he can do. I'll call back in 5 minutes." Sly explains.

"5 minutes, got it." Penelope says, hanging up the phone. After she hangs up, David phones in on his progress.

"Do you know where she is going?" The weasel instantly asks.

"Hello to you too." David responds.

"I can only hear what you can hear." David explains.

"Can you just take the cases off of her and bring them back here instead of tailing her for hours?" The weasel asks, thinking of a quicker alternative so he can then focus on the raccoon.

"Nope, I'm in the for the long haul. Flight that is. Can you get me tickets to whatever she goes?" David asks.

"Sure, just dip into our non existent budget." The weasel sarcastically commands.

"Don't give me that crap, I know we'd have to get a payout for finding their hiding place." David responds.

"What do you think I spent most of it on? Lots of money went under the table but it didn't do anything." The weasel angrily explains.

"Your not withholding money from me now otherwise we might lose her." David worries.

"Settle down, but your going economy." The weasel explains.

"Fine by me." David gladly exclaims before hanging up the phone to check on Penelope's location. She's looking around for something, having moved a fair distance away from where she was before. David quickly moves to keep in sight of her. From his vantage point, nothing obvious is apparent. She is scouting the terminal, taking a walk to kill the five minutes with the two cases in her two hands.

When she returns to the same vacant payphone, exactly 300 seconds after she terminated her call, it starts to ring again. She picks it up quickly.

"I've got tickets, Murray's got certain privileges to allow certain guests to move up the classes." Sly explains. "Murray's going to meet you on the other side of the staff door next to check-in #21, the code for the lock is 4284E. It means he can get you on as long as you follow the instructions that he gives you."

"What instructions?" Penelope asks.

"He's there now, go." Sly says.

4284E. She repeats it inside her head so she doesn't forget. She's glad that Sly pulled through like that at this time, and with such a detailed plan as well.

She arrives at the security door and quickly enters the code that unlocks the door. For David, this is an insurmountable obstacle that he can't pass; he couldn't see the code she put in from at distance away. He waits close by to all of the check in counters so that he can move as quickly as possible once he knows where to go.

On the other side of the door, She finds Murray waiting in the locker room inside.

"Sly told me everything." Murray says. He wears a pilot's uniform with too many X's to fit on the tag with normal font. "He said to put this on." Murray gives the plastic bag to Penelope that contains a cabin crew outfit for the plane Murray will be flying.

"Seriously?" Penelope says, the red and white uniform makes her look too much like a fashion model. "Is this what they wear now?"

"You won't need to actually be a cabin girl, only until we get through customs and passport control." Murray explains.

"What else did Sly tell you?" Penelope asks, taking off her clothes while Murray turns around.

"Your ticket is in the pants pocket and that your passport is being delivered at the moment. Oh yeah, and that he thinks that there's someone following you around before in the airport." Murray explains.

Penelope is puzzled. She never saw Sly at the airport at all, but then again he is very sneaky. But she was talking to him only a minute ago, so that can't be right.

"How does he…" Penelope starts but she catches sight the white security camera in the corner watching them both.

"How does he what?" Murray asks.

"I've got it figured out." Penelope responds. "I'm done now."

"Okay, I'm the one who will be doing the talking once you check in. I'll meet you on the other side. Use the crew lane." Murray says before moving through the other side of the room into a secure area taking the bag of clothes with him. Penelope exits the same way she went in with the cases in tow and proceeds to the check in desk. David spots her in this new uniform and gets on his phone straight away.

"Did they find the bug?" The weasel shouts into the phone. Since Penelope has changed her clothes, the bug has also gone into the plastic bag Murray is holding.

"She's changed clothes. She's a cabin girl now." David explains.

"For what airline?" the weasel asks.

"I haven't brushed up on my knowledge of airline uniform policies recently so I'm going to take a picture and you can tell me which one it is." David says, switching to the camera.

"Sorry, no pictures." A nearby policeman warns. David puts his phone away, already having taken the photo. He sends it through and returns to his call, waiting for a response. David looks up to the giant board, a retro touch in this technological age, that displays all of the departure and arrival times and tries to pick it out for himself while the team look it up back at their offices.

"Based off the image, it's either the 1050 to Madrid, 1130 to Singapore, 1150 to Santiago, 1225 to New York…" another agent says, listing out all of the international flights for this particular airline.

"I'm moving in for a closer look." David says, moving towards the counter but not too close, so not to arouse suspicion. Being in the crew uniform, Penelope gets priority check in at the counter and is already in the process of getting checked in, placing the cases on the conveyor belt.

"You better hurry to get through, 2 hours goes by quickly." The worker says as she straps the tags around the handles of these high tech cases. "The other's won't know who you are unless you get through quickly."

Penelope gets her boarding pass handed to her and she walks quickly towards passport control, despite not having a passport. But she is not worried about the contents of the cases being discovered by the X ray machines. Bentley had carefully etched out a pattern on the inside of the case's cover that disguises the contents inside by controlling the amount of X rays that pass through the case to fool the operator to think that there is the usual assortment of luggage items inside the case.

Outside, David gets back on the phone to order the correct ticket.

"It's the Santiago flight." David says. The team in Paris works away to secure a last minute ticket for him.

Inside the terminal itself, Penelope looks around for the person that would deliver her passport and anyone possibly following her like Sly said. She proceeds to a priority line, much to the discontent of all the travellers who stare at her entitlement of taking 1 minute at this point where they would take an hour to pass. As she stands behind the taped line on the ground, one of the guards manning the check point comes over to her and hands over her passport covertly. Penelope quickly checks the information inside, just to be safe, and waits to get called over. She wonders how many friends and contacts Sly has all over the world, considering he has managed corrupted the police in order to aid her. Even after 8 years it seems there are still some contacts supportive of Sly and his gang. The attendant in the tiny box holds up the passport and compares it with her real face, the passport a perfect replica so there is no reason for her to be worried. She passes through without any fuss.

Now that she is inside the gates of the airport, she heads towards the correct gate for this flight, assuming Murray would be there to allow her to change back into her more comfortable outfit (but not as comfortable as her normal clothing). She can't see anyone following as she checks again; maybe Sly just said that as a precaution as he didn't give a description of who might be following her. She feels embarrassed that she has to wear such an outfit in public past all of these duty free shops sporting perfume and designer labels that jack up the price by 500%. It's all superficial to Penelope, who walks past them hoping that soon she'll be out of this ridiculous outfit. One of the attendants in the gate spots her out and gives her the plastic bag that contains her clothes. Murray had passed it on to them before boarding the plane to do the pre flight checks. She quickly changes inside the bathroom and joins the rest of the people in waiting for the flight to board in the waiting lounge.

After all that, Bentley breathes a sigh of relief.


	24. Behind the Scenes

**Chapter 23 - Behind the Scenes**

**Bentley's Lab, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. 29****th**** April 2022 10:13am.**

Finally, he can relax.

After all this work he has put in sitting at this desk, infiltrating various airport systems and bribing officials, it has all paid off.

The plan was Bentley's idea and he has executed it on his own.

He bought her a first class ticket.

He told Murray the location of a flight crew uniform in her size.

He called up some contacts so they could make a passport and then bribe a guard to hand it off to her.

He disguised his voice with a voice changer.

And she won't know it was him who did it.

He only found her location whilst monitoring the phones at the apartment. He tapes every single word that goes through either end of the phones connected to both apartments. Bentley deduced what was happening from the calls that he participated and listened to. Once she got to the payphone and called back to the apartment, Bentley knew she was at the airport by tracing the call. It was elementary to crack into the camera system and follow Murray and her around to make sure nothing failed. But he doesn't dare contact Penelope to brag about the fact it was him and not Sly, it is way too early for that. What makes him feel better about himself is the look on Penelope's face through the security camera of relief now she is safely inside the gate.

But in the city of Paris, Sly is beginning to worry.

"It's still busy." Sly says to Carmelita, listening to the tone that signifies a busy phone line.

"What are you trying to do?" Alex asks, watching and listening to his parents from the couch.

"Call someone." Carmelita answers.

"Who?" Alex asks. He hasn't learned the important skill of when to be quiet and when to ask questions, and it's getting to Sly; at least on the inside.

"It's not your concern." Carmelita answers again. "Go with your sister inside her bedroom while we sort this out."

Alex doesn't answer and doesn't move; being more interested in seeing his dad handle a situation so that he can emulate him in the future.

"Finally." Sly mutters to himself after he hears the dial tone start, relieved that Penelope has managed to make it back to the payphone after some sort of altercation.

"The number you have reached is not available at this moment, please call again later." An automated voice says through the phone line. Sly is crushed. As soon as he puts the phone down, the phone starts to ring again and he picks it up, hoping she is calling from another phone. Sly waits for a response on the other end.

"Are you there?" Bentley asks, it's not who Sly was expecting and Alex can see it too.

"Bentley?" Sly questions. He can't help but see Alex peering in from the couch, it encroaches his privacy and prevents him from fully focusing on the task at hand.

"Sorry I had to block the phone line between you and 'her', but she won't know the difference." Bentley apologises.

"You had me worried sick there, I thought something might have happened." Sly replies.

"I felt it was necessary that I step in and take over this situation." Bentley explains.

"Could you not resist?" Sly suavely asks.

"Considering she had no passport, no money and no plane ticket; I think it was best for all of us." Bentley explains. Sly feels embarrassed that he made such rookie mistakes, but he hasn't been in this game for nearly 9 years. As a result, he doesn't say anything, no words could make up for potentially endangering the operation; he's lucky Bentley swooped in to fix it up.

"Okay then, bye." Bentley says, about to hang up.

"Wait." Sly hastily says, one question is has cropped up in his mind.

"Is there a problem?" Bentley asks.

"What do you mean by 'she won't know the difference'?" Sly asks.

"She thinks you've done all the plans and setup." Bentley explains.

"You've got to take the credit for that; I mean, you saved my bacon." Sly responds. But the raccoon recounts all those hateful words that Penelope said about Bentley, and realises what the real reason he did it was.

"It's…" Bentley starts.

"…complicated?" Sly finishes.

"I was going to say difficult, impossible, futile, but that works." Bentley says.

"Bye." Sly concludes after a period of awkward silence when either of them had nothing else to say. He doesn't feel inadequate or powerless that Bentley had to take over this operation without asking him; he's pleased that he did. In fact, he feels even more secure knowing that Bentley is watching over him. Sly walks away from the phone and sits back down on the couch opposite to Alex and turns on the tv. Now he is finished, Alex has little interest in watching his father anymore and decides go so see what Erin and Matt are doing in her bedroom for the past hour. From outside the door, all he can hear is talking; A back and forth conversation about things that he doesn't yet understand. The young raccoon thinks about knocking before entering, something he doesn't do often, but inevitably opens the door without warning. But they are so engrossed in the stories coming from the pages of the Thievius Raccoonus, they barely notice his entrance.

"…still can't believe how much stuff your ancestors have done." Matt says, sitting up on the bed now against the wall, Erin having not moved from her seat because she is transfixed by all of the writings in between it's cover.

"It's only a fraction of them all." Erin responds "I could look at more but I can't read Egyptian hieroglyphics, Hebrew or Latin."

"hiero…" Alex sounds out, standing just inside the room.

"Egyptian writing." Erin explains.

"Mine's got nothing like that in it, it's all in English." Alex says.

"So you have been reading it?" Erin asks. Alex tries to hide it.

"A little." Alex says.

"Where is it?" Matt asks, realising an idea.

"It's the sucky version, that's the real one." Alex says ashamedly.

"No, it's not. You have the translations that we can use to decipher the foreign languages inside this, this book." Matt explains. "Without them, it's unreadable."

In terms of making Alex feel better about himself, it's a good effort. But in Alex's opinion, his thick bound stack of paper will never equate to having the genuine article.

"Tell me where it is and I'll get it." Matt says enthusiastically.

"You can't get it, it's locked in a case by 2, 4 number tumblers, unless you're my sister who can unlock it on the first try, it's impossible." Alex explains, looking sideways to Erin who hides her smugness about that morning. Matt also looks at Erin to confirm what Alex had said.

"I'll get the case." Matt says. "Which one is your bedroom?"

"It's in the far corner." Alex says reluctantly. Matt gets up off the bed and bounds excitedly out of the door to Alex's bedroom. Alex turns to Erin in order to vent his inadequacies at her.

"He's much smarter than me." Alex says.

"So?" Erin says, turning a page.

"Do you think he's better?" Alex accuses. Erin pauses to think of the correct way to answer it.

"At stealing? No." Erin replies confusedly.

"But you like him more." Alex says

"I got it." Matt says as he bursts through the doorway, stopping Erin from clarifying Alex on this matter. Alex takes the case and tries the same technique before to open it, trying to hear the subtle clicks that signify the correct numbers for each tumbler. He hopes to redeem himself this time around. Erin can see him doing it this way instead of remembering the code. She watches his fingers moves on the tumblers on the other side of the case and watches him as he pauses before opening the case. To his surprise, it opens. Inside, he feels a great sense of relief, if only he did that a few days ago. Inside is the copied translation of the Thievius Raccoonus. Alex lifts it out and places it next to the real book. He opens its crisp white pages, as if they'd just been recently photocopied, and Erin takes over to search for the corresponding page to the one she is looking at. She's looking for something that matches this ancient Hebrew writing and sketchy diagrams next to it. After some furious flicking, she finds what she is looking for and reads it out to the other two who are peering around her.

"Stealing from stalls at Passover." Erin starts. None of them know what Passover is. Erin looks at Matt for answers and half looks at Alex, knowing that he does not know the answer.

"Wait until someone goes to buy something, hide near the stall and take when they are not looking." Erin says, confused at how basic it seems to be. Maybe back then it was a revolution in thieving but now it's practically worthless.

"Yuval Cooper." She reads in the bottom right hand corner of the translated page, to see which Cooper's history is on this page.

"Turn to something else, something sooner." Alex says, this one boring excerpt has made him feel bored already, not learning something that he doesn't know. Taking something from someone when they are not looking is obvious; Alex thinks that even Matt would know something as basic as this.


	25. Back at Base

**Chapter 24 – Back at Base**

**Paris, France. 12:13pm 29****th**** April 2022.**

"Are you sure you can't help me out?" The weasel asks on the back foot through the telephone lines. "I'm so close to finishing this off."

"The terms, which do not exist, forbid such action." His contact replies. An older gentleman.

"No, I mean under the table, like last time." The weasel pleas.

"It took me a lot of time and effort to cover up your first call for help, disposing of half an elite unit and a log cabin isn't easy." He replies.

"But I can get constant eyes on, a clean view…" The weasel argues.

"You are on your own, just like the past years 8 years and only now you start complaining." He replies.

"Didn't you get all my Intel that I sent to you?" The weasel asks.

"First of all, it's not _your _intel. Secondly, no I have not received a single email telling me anything like the location of Sly Cooper, his gang or the Mona Lisa." He corrects.

"I'll tell you now then." The weasel says hopefully.

"No you won't. You know the rules, which also don't exist." He says. The weasel is totally confused.

"Stop moving the goal posts." The weasel says, starting to loose his temper.

"I can and I will in order to get you to stop calling me, crying for assistance like a baby needing their mother. I have other people who need much more and much more important help than you."

"Don't you care at all?" The weasel shouts.

"You know perfectly well the protocols, which do not exist, to follow." He asserts. "Follow them, cause that's what they are not there for. Good day!"

His call is terminated.

"Sir." One of his agents calls to the weasel. He doesn't respond, too pissed off at how he was treated. "He's at the golf course."

"Of course he is, he's always at the golf course." The weasel says exasperatingly. He takes a few seconds to calm down and address his team.

"Okay, I want a surveillance team surrounding the apartment. If you spot anyone going in, take note. If one of them goes out, follow them. Extraction will be decided a case-by-case basis." The weasel announces to his team.

"Yes sir." They chant in unison. This plan was only ready by this morning after figuring out the location of where they are living.

"Let's head on out." The weasel announces as they get up from their workstations and move towards the clandestine exit into the alleyway before going into the van so that they can get to their planned locations.

**1:14pm 29****th**** Paris 2022.**

Two of this team sits on top of a distant building with warm clothes on and a long range scope on a tripod, along with a pair of binoculars to look into the target apartment from a distance of 492 metres according to the rangefinder in the scope.

"It's not like it's supposed to take this long, isn't it?" One asks, looking through the scope with one eye. They have been starved of any sort of useful information, nor any sort of conformation that their target is here; not even a peep. But the windows are not covered by shutters or concealed in any way, therefore they think they have not been spotted from this distance away.

"It's been nearly an hour." The other one says, scanning the windows again through the binoculars.

"I guess we have to keep on waiting." She replies. Like on cue, a small automated drone rises from below and drops a package on top the roof before disappearing as fast as it arrived. They suddenly don't care about the long wait they have endured for this delivery, for the contents are worth it. She opens the box and finds a small gift for their troubles due to the wait.

"At least they gave us our money back." She notes, moving away from the scope to inspect the contents. But her male counterpart doesn't have time to notice as he goes straight into eat this pizza they have waited for. Even on this cold day, the warmth is delightful. They take a break from the monotony of stationary surveillance, considering nothing of any interest has happened at all.

**Back in the HQ**

"I don't care about how many birdies you shot; what I care about is doing my job, something that you can't seem to do." The weasel says, alone now in this office now that his team are hopefully carrying out his instructions.

"Yes I appreciate that." His contact replies.

"No you don't. Whenever I need help, you turn it down; whenever I send you evidence in order to get that help, you make it incredibly hard for me to do so." He argues.

"There are rules." He repeats.

"Then what's the point of making a team that has no rules to follow, only to set rules?" The weasel questions.

"They don't exist." He repeats. He wants to rip is throat out through the phone line.

"I'll get my own back up then." The weasel says, thinking of a new idea.

"I won't allow it." He refutes stubbornly.

"It will be easy." The weasel says.

"It will be even easier for me to arrest you and to sever your ties, not only to you, but also the people you are responsible for. Landing you all in a lengthy prison sentence and me scott free." He argues, with an air of confidence.

"It will be even easier for me to gather a swat team from upstairs and raid the house myself." The weasel warns.

"You have no power up there." His contact says. "I've won."

"No you haven't." The weasel says, but he's been caught out of context.

"Yes I have because the director of MI6 missed a 5 footer." He says.

"You are the most incompetent, lazy and annoying person I've ever had to work for." The weasel scowls, trying to give the final straw. "Playing golf while we suffer here."

"I think 8 years in charge makes me pretty successful." Chief Barkley replies. The weasel has had enough with Barkley's annoyance and reluctance to offer anything that could be remotely considered to be a helping hand. Even when he is so close to his goal.

He has no choice but to roll the dice in order to get this over and done with sooner rather than later, otherwise who knows where Sly might go? He walks to the unused entrance to this basement, the actual entrance that leads into the police station above.

He can see through the one way glass all of the policemen and women who are oblivious to all of the work that has gone down underneath here for so long. Slowly, he unlatches the bolts at the top and the bottom of the door and opens it. He's surprised that it hasn't rusted shut from not having used it in ages. The receptionist sees this door open from her desk. Despite not having worked here for long, she has never seen it open until now, and that makes her especially lucky being able to see any sort of life behind that heavily secured storage closet.

But the weasel takes no notice of her, he is intent on his own mission and walks straight into the offices so he can rally a team. He thinks he has importance and can get people out of their seats in a flash, but like Barkley said from all those kilometres away; he has no power here.

"Sir, this is a restricted area." Someone shouts as they rise from their desk and point a gun at him. This gets the attention of everyone in this level.

"Get on the ground now!" He shouts as others who are closer to the weasel move in to close him down.

"I work downstairs." The weasel pleas.

"Show your ID." He commands, the weasel has none.

"I work downstairs; Hear me out, I'm in a top secret mission and I need your help." The weasel pleads quickly. But he is tied down and handcuffed swiftly.

"Take him down to a cell for questioning." He commands, and the weasel is lifted up to is feet and walks reluctantly as he is escorted by the police to one to a questioning room that contains only flat desk and a padded bench seat along with cameras in the corners to watch every second. The weasel gets thrust into the opposite side of the table whist still handcuffed whilst two officers take their place to question the intruder.

"This is a mistake." The weasel pleads. "I have a direct line to Interpol Chief Barkley who can verify who I am and what I do. You can call my team and they can back me up."

"On your phone?" An officer asks. "Get it out."

The weasel gets out his phone despite having has hands behind his back and throws the phone onto the table for them to handle.

"He's on speed dial." The weasel adds. "Number 1."

The officer follows his instructions and calls the phone.

"The number you have dialled can not be connected, please try again." The automated voice says. The officers still think he is an imposter now that their suspicions are confirmed. They give back the phone.

"I'm sorry, but you're going to have to be charged for impersonating a police officer and trespassing." The officer concludes.

"I have an office here." The weasel pleads, his intent not waving even though his chances are. "I can show you it, you know the fingerprint scanner at the front of the building next to the door that never opens. I work in there."

"Go." One says, leaving the room to check about what he says.

"Please, call my team." The weasel pleads again to the lone officer.

"No matter how much you think you work in law enforcement, trespassing into this restricted area is forbidden. You will receive a letter regarding your court date, organise a lawyer or else one will be provided for you." The officer explains. "Although you will not win."

The weasel hangs his head in failure.

"Come, you have to go into a cell." He explains, getting up so that he can move the accused down to a holding cell. The other officer comes into the door holding a pile of papers staked up high. She places them on the small table and the pile collapses and speads the pile out. All of these documents that she brought from below ground level are only a tiny fraction of the total amount.

"My papers." The weasel exclaims hopefully. He is ecstatic, almost in tears.

"So." She begins. "You work on this case."

"Yes." The weasel replies becoming more composed. The other officer is sceptical so he proceeds to leave the room to see for himself. She starts looking at all of the bits of paper to get a picture of what he is doing down there.

"So you are…" She begins. But the door is opened by a crowded room full of officers.

"We have orders to arrest you." One says, drawing his gun. The female officer scurries out of the way, keeping her head out of the way of the gun. In the process, she isolates him in this cramped box but the weasel laughs it off.

"Barkley you bitch." The weasel curses under his breath.

"Stand up!" He shouts. The weasel is calm as he shuffles across on his seat and stands up slowly. He flicks his gun towards him, indicating to the weasel to walk out.

"You're making a big mistake." The weasel says normally, not in vain. "You're going to let him get away with it all when I am so close."

He continues to walk whilst being surrounded by police down into the cells below. Where he walks inside by himself and watches as the metal bar door slides across and locks. The weasel offers his hands towards them so that his handcuffs can be removed. After that is done, he goes and sits down on the metal bench on the other side of the cell against a concrete wall. The commanding officer on this station comes down after a period of time and slides a mobile phone through the cell door. It's already in a call that the weasel starts. He picks up the phone and knows who it will be.

"You are no longer in charge of this case." Barkley flatly says. "You team will continue on without you. You will be charged with whatever they decide to give you for your stunt you pulled, and you will plead guilty. After that, you serve whatever the punishment is and you can live a brand new life of whatever you want to do. Raise a family, get a decent job, who knows?"

"Then who will be in charge?" The weasel asks.

"I will be." Barkley says. "Me and him go far back, further back than you'll ever think possible."

"I recall the last time a director of Interpol tried to capture him, it's didn't work out too well." The weasel counters.

"Yes, it means I won't make the same mistakes. I won't receive bribes from criminal organisations who want to see him gone." Barkley says.

"I mean on the ground. You'll be paying golf." The weasel says.

"I will be." Barkley repeats again. "Because the next thing I'll know is that he'll be back again destroying the headquarters." The weasel can't deny the drive to get him caught.

"You'll need me at some point." The weasel says, trying to get some final leverage. Trying a last ditch attempt to cling to this case that he has been with for many years. "I am the last person in law enforcement or intelligence to see and talk to him in person."

"That doesn't count for anything." Barkley replies. His chances are gone. The weasel is cut knowing that all of the work he has done will lead to nothing for him. He will receive no credit for it nor for doing any service. For eight years he has tried to get this case solved and it hasn't worked. But what he has is a wealth of information and intelligence left over. And all of that hard work, him and his teams work, is suddenly snatched away from him just as he is within touching distance of the end.

"I guess it is over." The weasel says without remorse. "Goodbye."

"One last thing. Bentley, I know you're listening on this conversation from where ever you are and I'm sure you've had my friend's conversations tapped ever since Sly was here. Just know that none of you will be spared, especially Ms Fox." Barkley warns before terminating the conversation. He puts the phone away and turns to his intelligence partners with whom he met over a game of golf.

"We are in control." Barkley says pleased with himself, sitting in his padded leather seat in this private jet in a Lyon hanger.

"We are finally going to do it." The head of the CIA notes.

"After all of the trouble he has caused us, all over the world." The head of MI6 says.

"It might be the only thing that could bring us to cooperate." The head of the BND says. A speaker turns on from the cockpit.

"Ready to depart sir." The pilot announces before the planes jet engines roar into life and put both the wheels of the plane and the plan in motion.


	26. Now is the Time to Panic

**Chapter 25 – Now is the time to Panic**

**Amsterdam, The Netherlands. 1:29pm 29****th**** April 2022. **

Bentley flings down the headphones off of his ears that he was using to listen in on this phone conversation, just like all of the others. Somehow he has been caught out, it can't be down to the technology he thinks; he said that he doesn't know where he is. Is it just a blind guess? Bentley postulates, or is it just a feeling from being on the chasing side for too many years. It doesn't matter, he has to warn Sly.

The turtle turns on the autodial to the apartment, desperately trying to reach Sly. All he can hear is static, static from a telecommunications jammer that makes any attempt at calling impossible. Bentley immediately tries to patch a way around the signal jammer in an effort to beat their efforts. But every time he finds a dial tone, it's quickly cut out and replaced with hideous static, although after slightly different amounts of time. This tells him that they have to be manually jamming every attempt he makes to call. Therefore, Bentley uses a program to make several calls a second, enough to surely overload any capacity to block them all. The catch is that the line he chooses will cut out when they find all of the connections. He chooses a call whilst the fakes ones go on around it and hopes for a quick pick up.

Once he does reach the phone line, it is busy. Bentley runs a remote trace on the apartment phone but it's location is scrambled. But not for long, this is Bentley after all. It's a quick moving dot of the French countryside, too fast for a car so it must be from a plane. He knows who it must be but even with his technological superiority, all he can do is record the conversation and listen to it after it is finished. He doesn't want to listen in from part way in as it might skew the full picture.

'No one will be spared.' Chief Barkley said. Bentley goes through everyone they have ever worked with. Sly, Murray, Penelope, Carmelita, Joey, The Panda King, The Guru, perhaps even Geoffrey? Not forgetting himself. Now he goes through and figures out where everyone is, making 3 groups in the process. Group A of Sly, Carmelita and Joey; Group B of Penelope and Murray and the rest in Group C as they are not together. A new thought rams it's way into view, what about Sly and Carmelita's kids? No doubt that Sly and Carmelita would rather die than they did, it would be extremely dangerous if they got into their hands. But law enforcement is an area that is bound by rules, surely child kidnapping is off the list. Will they be presumed innocent given that they have done nothing illegal, yet; or will they be carted off somewhere to be re integrated into society? Bentley doesn't know for sure, all he knows is that if that happened to Sly after his parents got killed, it would be likely that they would never have met.

A light turns off showing that the line is empty and the call has finished. Bentley rushes to listen on the recorded message.

"Hello" He hears Carmelita say.

"Ms. Fox, how nice to hear the sound of your voice again." Barkley comments sarcastically. She becomes frozen and doesn't speak so Barkley starts.

"Since you are not wanting to say anything I am willing to make you a deal. In the next 48 hours, anyone who has ever worked or associated with Sly Cooper is going to be captured and imprisoned. I will promise to allow not only you but your kids off without any charge if you turn Sly Cooper in before sunset. I will be at the police headquarters in Paris tonight, waiting to see if you have any sort of contribution to law enforcement you once would do anything to uphold." Barkley offers. Still Carmelita looks around frantically for Sly to handle this, but finds nothing.

"Oh Carmelita, eventually it's going to happen. It's the cycle of a criminal and you can help it along. Where is the fire? The zest? The drive to capture wanted criminals once again? I know it must be so hard for you to hear this from me but I'm afraid this is a personal matter now. Go back, way back. That's right, you know the place, not far from where you are standing now. It was your first assignment under my supervision and your first encounter with Mr. Cooper. It was my decision to give you your promotion up to inspector and whilst you did do great service before, I'm afraid that's all in the past now and what you do in the present will directly affect what your outcome will be in the future and also the outcome of your children which we presume you care for very much. So, you can spend the rest of your life in prison along with everyone else; or you can reclaim your duties as Head Inspector at Interpol with this simple task, either way, I'm prepared for either." Barkley says before the call is terminated.

Bentley is in overdrive in his head, the majority taken up by fear and anxiety. Plans come into his head then vanish as if they never existed due to the inadequacy of it. Escaping is the first thought, the go bags will help them and he has options for where they can go next, somewhere less metropolitan. But after a quick satellite scan of the surrounding area, he finds two groups of 2 surveying the apartment, at least without lethal weapons by their side, one watching the apartment and the other watching the front door. They would have to sneak out somehow, Joey could smuggle them out and pick up a bag along the way. Even that seems improbable despite it's simplicity. But what else is possible? He glances at a broken gravity encapulator on the floor he had from his little episode and thinks about time travel, but the part is broken just like any notion of using a time machine. It leads to too many unforseen problems.

He needs to call Sly now. Bentley increases the amount of calls to the maximum in a hasty effort to reach Sly for a longer amount of time, at the cost of a more effective trace being done to find his location due to the overwhelming output of signals he is producing. He gets through the line and waits for a pickup. Bentley prays for them to pick up, as if nothing else would satisfy him more.


	27. Constriction

**Chapter 26 – Constriction**

**Kun-Lun Mountains, China. 10:34pm (local time) 29****th ****April 2022.**

Even in the age of technology and automation, The Panda King has not changed his simple and honest methods of making spectacular fireworks high up in the mountains where the rarefied air makes all sorts of unique patterns in the oxygen poor environment. His small workshop is crammed up with fireworks of all times piled up against the wall, he has been working on a very big order that has consumed all of his working time these past week. His client is a wealthy Chinese businessman wanting to celebrate the opening of a new skyscraper in the fanciest and grand way possible. The rushing winds that pick up snow and toss it further away from where it once was is a constant part of life up here. The buffeting and banging it causes against anything not made of stone or clay can cause anyone to become insane very quickly.

But his life of solitude is just that, solitary. Everyone who once lived here has left for the promise of work and a 'better' life in the cities, even his daughter Jing King has left which made him sad initially, but it was her choice. The only contact he sees is from hikers who travel through this desolate village in order to reach the higher peaks or clients of his business.

A different noise pricks his ears back, a chopping of the frosty air. The panda lifts his hulking body off the squat wooden stool and walks slowly towards the front door to peer outside. It's too dark and treacherous for anyone to fly up here or hike in this weather. Besides, it's too late for anyone to come up here, he was planning to finish this patch before escaping the cold in the comfort of his bed.

Even in the raging wind, a floating spotlight reaches up from the ground and gets closer, accompanied by the roar and chopping of a helicopter's blades. The helicopter swings violently against the wind as the pilot tries to land it in the small clearing which used to be a town square. The Panda King reaches for his cloak and covers himself up before bracing against the winds to see who this could be, this helicopter could be low on fuel or damaged by the strong winds. The helicopter's sound gets smaller as the blades stop spinning, The Panda King arrives just as the blades stop spinning. Sparks fly off a destroyed hut as the helicopter didn't make the correct landing, but they all land in the snow leaving no chance of a fire. The panda moves through the knee high snow as quickly as possible to aid the helicopter. A figure gets out from the passenger bay wearing a dark blue suit and pants along with black loafers, a man ill prepared for the ill weather.

"It is too dangerous to come here." The Panda King says in his deep yet humble voice.

"I'm sorry." The Komodo dragon apologises.

"Is your pilot okay?" The panda says, moving past his client over to the cabin. The goat is shaken by the horror landing and hasn't moved form the cabin.

"Get out of there, you will freeze over." The panda warns. The goat unlocks the door with shaky hands and gets out into the cold.

"You can stay for the night, in the morning you will be able to leave if the weather permits." The panda graciously offers.

"Thank you Mr. King." The dragon says, giving a slight bow towards him. This small group trudge through the freezing snow until they reach the relative safety of the workshop where the fireworks are made and where the panda sleeps. As the panda shuts the door on his guests, he asks a question.

"Why do you come when it is clearly not the time or the weather to come?" He asks.

"I was sent, by my father. Great businessman, better than I will ever be." He replies, feeling scared. "He is very wealthy, richer than I will ever be."

"Wealth does not come from piles of gold or stack of money but kindness in your heart." The panda says, offering his wisdom to them.

"He want to buy your factory, your business. You and him could make big money." The dragon promises.

"I do not work for the pleasure of making money but of making fireworks." The Panda explains.

"Yes, but he offer you big price. 2.5 million US dollars." The dragon says.

"If you braved conditions to dangerous for any pilot in order to buy my out then you should feel appalled. But I cannot blame you, for you are only the messenger." The panda says.

"Quite right. Mr. King." He says. There is a pause as the two guests look around the place.

"Where will your best customers sleep tonight?" The dragon asks, putting an arm around the panda in an effort to charm him.

"You two can take my bed, it will fit the both of you comfortably. It is upstairs. " The panda offers.

"Thank you sir, you will be paid extra for this." He says. The dragon and his pilot, who is shaking from the cold, climb up the stairs to find the bed. Outside through, the panda king can hear another foreign noise in the surrounding area, another helicopter.

"Did anyone come with you?" The panda concernedly asks up the stairs.

"No, it's just us." The dragon says.

"What does your friend say?" The panda says, asking the pilot.

"Well, um, there was this once radar signature that was following us but it was only tiny, like a mosquito." The pilot says with a noticeable chatter against his teeth. "Nothing to be concerned about."

"I'm going outside, you stay inside." The Panda says, grabbing some fireworks before heading outside. The panda makes five steps outside before he sees the helicopter shining it's bright spotlight towards him. A rope is thrown out of the side and soldiers start rappelling from both sides onto the steep mountain side, not seeing the ground they are rappelling onto. The panda sees this helicopter, it's obviously a military helicopter that's likely coming after one or all of them. But he's not concerned about that, he's seeing soldiers plummet to their death as they descend into darkness and fall down the cliff like side of the mountain. The panda quickly lights a firework and aims it towards the landing side that the first helicopter had chosen. It flies over some buildings before exploding in the snow; he repeats the same thing with more fireworks, clearing a bigger area of snow and illuminating a safe path to them to land. The helicopter obliges and moves away from rappelling down the cliff face towards the site, still with it's ropes dangling in the wind with soldiers attached. Some collide with the buildings and become lifeless as they helicopter continues on.

The panda moves towards the snow again and watches the this second helicopter attempts the landing in the snow. Despite the improved light at the landing site, a gust of wind knocks the helicopter on it's side, causing the main rotors to grind horribly against the stone path buried under the snow. The blades give way and snap, sending some into the snow and others into the darkness. The panda comes out of the cover he used to protect himself from the blades and moves towards the army helicopter. He stops suddenly as he hears the screeching of the jet turbines that used to power the blades now at overdrive since there is no load on the engine. He can hear that there is no one trying to turn it off so he goes back behind the stone hut he used as cover as sees the frozen night turn into a fireball as the engine overheats and tears itself apart, causing a small explosion of metal.

The fuel tank is sheared open, sending fuel leaking into the snow. From around the corner, the panda sees the deadly situation that is going to happen. He races as fast as he can towards the helicopter with no concern for his own life. He can see that the pilot is tangled between his controls, alive but unable to move. His co pilot is nowhere to be seen. The Panda King climbs up onto the side and opens the door that faces up towards the sky. This pilot is not screaming in agony but is remaining calm despite his appendages being in unnatural positions. The panda reaches in with one hand, easily reaching the pilot's hand, but he doesn't offer his own, unable to do so himself. Instead, the panda leans over with two hands and grabs him by the shoulders, trying to be as careful as possible so as to cause as little pain as possible. Once he is clear of the cabin, he carries him to behind the hut and searches for more.

Fuel is leaking slowly now from the helicopter as it get's closer to emptying out it's load. The fuel gets absorbed into the snow, melting it and causing a run off away from the helicopter. A fire has not started yet. Only the stealth black top of the helicopter is charred from the engine overheating. The panda looks for any more survivors. He looks inside the cabin and find three young soldiers, none older than 20, lighting up in the freezing conditions. The overturned helicopter provides shelter from the wind and enabling them to light up. The panda realises the obvious danger this makes.

"Stop smoking, you'll blow up the helicopter." He says, but the soldiers don't drop their cigs, instead fumbling for their pistols.

"Stop, you under arrest." One shouts, as if it was rehearsed. The panda offers his hand in getting them out.

"You will die if you don't get out now." The panda calmly says. One of them takes his hand and he is pulled out. The two remaining soldiers watch their comrade take their targets offer and decide to do the same. They all run away, following the panda to the spot where he left the pilot. All of their cigarettes have gone out in the wind, useless now. These young soldiers fumble for their guns again to arrest the Panda.

"You, under arrest now." One says, all pointing their guns at the panda.

"I know." The Panda says. Two of the soldiers turn around and see the other two in the snow watching them.

"Mr. Wei, you deal with criminal. You under arrest." They say, advancing towards Mr. Wei and his pilot. The two of them go and stand next to The panda king and the army pilot who is unable to stand.

"He is not a criminal, he is a businessman, like me." Mr Wei argues.

"He is criminal." One shouts above the wind. The fuel ignites, starting a fire inside the wrecked helicopter.

"You need to help your comrade." The Panda king says, pointing to the man lying face up in the snow, barely breathing. The soldiers don't know what to do, so they return to making threats of arrest.

"You under arrest." One shouts again. They are trying to me tough, but they are just boys underneath.

"What next?" The panda asks.

"We wait for Lietenant Chao, very brave man." One soldier says. "He lead us to victory."

"He has also lead himself and everyone else to their deaths." The panda says. "That makes this man lying down here in charge I think." The panda says. "We need to help him." They look down to the pilot lying on the ground and they all drop down quickly to help him as best they can.

"Everyone needs to lift him back to my hut." The Panda king says.

"No." Mr. Wei interjects. "He's needs a hospital."

"He will die before he gets there." The Panda king says.

"We'll use my helicopter." Mr Wei says. "Come on."

The three soldiers and the pilot lift up the army pilot off the ground to the sound of wincing in pain. They trudge slowly in the snow with the army helicopter now on fire illuminating the area until they reach the bay of the helicopter where they lower him down slowly. The rest of them pile in as the pilot gets in the front to power up the machine. The other helicopter still remains on fire despite the freezing temperature, the fuel being consumed by the fire.

The blades scrape faster and faster against the side of the hut which it landed near until it pushes away from the hut and slowly rises, albeit shaky in the wind. As the helicopter goes with the wind, it picks up speed towards the nearest main town. No one speaks a word but only the looks on people's faces are exchanged as the helicopter descends down the mountain.

**11:09pm**

The helicopter lands on top of the small medical centre, a comparatively easier landing. They had radioed the hospital earlier and two nurses are already waiting on the roof to receive their patient. They lift the injured soldier onto the trolley where he is pushed inside.

"It's your turn to do your job." The Panda King says to the young soldiers. He has already accepted that he will be captured, but not because they overpowered him, but because they need a lesson in humility.

"Where is the nearest police station?" The Panda King asks. Mr Wei is surprised at this actions.

"Come on now, we leave them here and you can continue making fireworks." Mr Wei says hopefully.

"No, he is under arrest." A soldier says.

"I am under arrest." The Panda King says slowly.


	28. Exit Strategy

**Chapter 27 – Exit Strategy**

**The Apartment, Paris, France. 1:36pm 29****th**** April 2022.**

The phone rings, Carmelita can hear it's ringing reminding her of her choice she has to make. Nevertheless, she picks it up. She can hear Sly come out of Erin's bedroom as soon as she picks up the phone from behind her left ear. She waits for whoever is on the other side to make the first move.

"Don't do it Carmelita." Bentley warns straight up.

"Do what?" She asks, wondering what he is on about.

"Don't give Sly over to Barkley, you can't trust him." Bentley says.

"Please, I was never going to do that." Carmelita dismisses.

"Good, I might be cut off at any second so I must be quick. Go over to the windows slowly and look outside." Bentley instructs.

"Okay, what am I looking for?" She asks puzzlingly.

"On the top of the tall building on the right, can you see anyone?" Bentley asks. She tries to make anyone out from the distance away but it's difficult in the overcast weather.

"Not from here." She says, slowly.

"Carm what are you looking for?" Sly asks concernedly.

"Is Sly there?" Bentley asks, overhearing Sly in the background. "Can he see it? Put the phone on speaker"

"Bentley says there are under surveillance from that building over there." She says to Sly, pointing to where Bentley had told her.

"I trust him one hundred percent." Sly says assuringly as he goes into one of the many cardboard boxes that are littered around the place still and picks out his binocucom. He goes over to the same spot and zooms in for a closer view.

"2 people, one telescope on a tripod." Sly notes. He spots the cheese pull reaching above the ledge. "And a large half and half."

"Okay, My intel says they work for that weasel you saw last night." Bentley says.

"What weasel?" Carmelita asks.

"That guy I told you about." Sly explains. She nods her head.

"It turns out he's no longer in charge, it's gone up to the very top again." Bentley says.

"Which Interpol chief is now after me?" Sly asks.

"Barkley." Bentley says.

"He's got some beef coming after us now." Sly says, still looking up at the two observers on top of the building.

"Where are the kids?" Bentley asks.

"Reading the TR." Sly says. He doesn't dare say it's full name over the phone, no matter how secure it may be. "Why? Are they about to strike again?"

"No, I mean not now." Bentley says, trying to hide the full extent of their plot in order to instil some calm in them. But trying to hide something from both of these people is a monumental challenge.

"Bentley, we'll find out sooner or later." Sly says with arrogance whilst he looks at Carmelita with a smile.

"I'd say we have less than one day." Carmelita guesses.

"They want everyone captured within 48 hours." Bentley says.

"Everyone?" Sly asks, Carmelita doesn't show the same shock as he does.

"Everyone you have ever worked with." Bentley says.

"You know that includes you right?" Sly says, adding a little humour into the mix.

"I know, but I'm going to help everyone I can through this." Bentley says.

"Well you weren't going to turn us all in were you." Sly jokes to Bentley.

"Of course not." Bentley replies. Carmelita is trying to keep Barkley's words secure inside of her.

"So what plan do you have for us?" Sly asks.

"Right now, we don't make any sudden movements, we don't rush. We'll wait for the right time to sneak out." Bentley explains. "It should be in the black book, chapter 2 I think."

"Okay." Sly thanks. "I'll wait for your call."

"Bye." Bentley says.

Sly looks back at the cardboard boxes and searches for a black book. It doesn't take much effort; each page is the size of an A4 sheet of paper. Unlike the other 'books', this one does not contain a tablet inside but is a collage of photos and labels, both computerised and handwritten. Sly takes the large book and places it on the coffee table, out of sight from those who will return to watching them after their desire to eat has gone. Sly quickly flicks through the book to find the section Bentley said and sees his idea unfold, as if Bentley's archaic overhead projector was in the room with him.

Once he has read it quickly, his attention naturally turns those kids in the room. Especially to Matt, who has no reason to be caught up in this mess.

"We'll leave in the evening." Sly says to Carmelita.

"Exactly when they expect us to." Carmelita interjects.

"I think they're expecting us to leave full stop." Sly says as he nears the door to Erin's Bedroom. Staying is out of the question, when they can see him and have him and his family cornered He opens the door to see the three kids pouring their eyes over the pages, at least they found it as interesting he did.

"I think it's time for Matt to go." Sly says plainly.

"But dad." Erin complains, they were having a nice time describing various things that happened when they poured through the book.

"I know you must be having a great time but we've got to be as a family right now." Sly explains. Matt is accepting in his fate, but he is already thinking of all of the permutations that could be happening in his absence. All of the exciting things that they could be doing once he is gone.

"Okay, It was nice to meet you all." Matt says, with a hint of sadness. This day has been one of the best in his short life. Erin and Alex look as the rat brushes past the side of their dad and away from their sight. He reaches for the door knob and turns it to open the front door, looking back on the inside of the apartment, remembering it's details, before turning around to walk down the stairs.

With each passing step, he reflects on how much fun he had today, peering into a book that was like peering into history itself. Knowing how cool his friends really were and that they were the heirs to some sort of criminal empire. But from what he read and saw in the book, it didn't seem like they went off to steal from anyone for the sake of a lack of money. They did it because... of something. Matt checks himself as he thinks of it, just to confirm that this family of thieves hasn't taken something from him. But he can't put an exact and all encompassing reason as to why they stole in the way they did.

Oh well, he thinks, there is nothing else to do but watch my brothers sleep all day and… think about how cool Alex and Erin are.

He hopes that some of their coolness could rub off onto him and make him popular amongst other kids in the school instead of being a quiet know it all that teachers depended on for answers to demonstrate that at least one student listens and remembers the things they say; but the next school day is over 36 hours away.

Just as he descends two of the five flights of stairs; the same door, that same door which almost knocked him out a few hours ago opens, as if it anticipated his arrival. The dark and worn wooden door says open at 90 degrees, with Matt not moving an inch, knowing the danger that could lurk beyond. Matt slowly shuffles around to open up the angle and try to ascertain as to what is behind that door. Matt peers around the edge of the door but he is grabbed by the person waiting for him to do this and pushed into the apartment before the skunk shuts the door slowly as to not arouse suspicion.

Matt tries to shout at his kidnapper but his cries are muffled by his assailant's hand as he is pushed away from the front and into the bedroom, where that door is shut again. When that happens, Matt gasps for air as his hands release from his mouth.

"You keep snooping around my house, trying to find something that will make you popular." Jeremy accuses ferociously, with an unseen rage that Jeremy himself never thought he had.

"No, please don't hurt me." Matt cowers, lying on the bed with his arms out in front trying to shield himself from the predicted beating he will face.

"Too bad, you are my last straw, and my first victim." Jeremy snarls.

"Everybody that I know picks on me, I don't know why, but they do and it's getting annoying." He says angrily, driving Matt deeper into the mattress.

"I somewhat feel ashamed that you had to be the one I finally hit back at, probably because you are more manageable than some of my, other, tyrants. Nevertheless, you are just as annoying!" The skunk shouts, lifting Matt up before throwing him as hard as possible into the bed, bouncing the mouse up about 50cm from the top of the bed. The skunk reflectively thinks about what he has done, somehow he had the strength to do that, and it surprised him greatly. The feeling of domination, of being on top and powerful is addictive. It makes him fell purposeful and meaningful, as if his actions have some sort of control now instead of allowing others to control him.

Matt regains his bearings and tries to roll off the bed but the skunk moves around the other side, holding him on the bed.

"Let me go, I haven't done anything." Matt says.

"Sorry, it is an unfortunate consequence of being at the wrong place at the wrong time." Jeremy plainly states, before pushing hard against the rat, rolling him across the bed and off the other side with a thud. His new strength continues to surprise Jeremy; only a few days ago, he would have never thought he had it in him. Matt gets up quicker this time to his feet, but the skunk, whose details he thought would give him popularity, have now brought him pain and suffering, is blocking the only entrance out of the room through the doorway. There is no window to climb out and no vent to climb through, escape is impossible.

"My friends will beat you up when they hear about this." Matt says, putting on a brave face.

"Your two brand new raccoon bodyguards? Bah, I'm five years older and once they see how damaged and broken you are, they'll realise that I am no longer bully bait anymore." Jeremy triumphantly states, even if the two raccoons never have bullied him. At least he's taking a stand for himself after being on the receiving end of so much torture, but this is not exactly the way one would rebuild themselves after doing so.

"Stop trying to get out, I can see it in your eyes, darting around from side to side. Just think of it as a sleep over between friends." Jeremy says before slipping out of the room and shutting the door. Matt rushes to turn the handle and open the door but he can feel his captor holding it firm as a scratchy dragging sound against the wooden floor is heard from inside the bedroom. Matt can imagine what it is, chair or a small table barring his exit, but the situation around him dwells. He is being imprisoned cruelly by skunk much older than him who has no parents to tell him what to do or friends to help him see otherwise. The skunk is left to his own devices, which he seems to have finally taken control of.


	29. Leaving Tonight

**Chapter 28 – Leaving Tonight**

**The apartment, Paris, France. 1:42pm. 29****th**** April 2022**

"Now, I know you'll be upset to hear this, but we have to move again." Sly explains, trying to set it down as smoothly as possible to his kids.

"Are we being hunted again?" Alex asks curiously.

"No, it's just prec… I mean for our safety." Sly corrects, rewording his thought into simpler vocabulary so that Alex can understand.

"Dad, we may be just kids, but we're are not stupid or naïve to think that the reason we have to leave again is not 'for our safety'." Erin counters. Sly is on the back foot, he didn't expect her to be so comfortable with the situation.

"They've come again, haven't they?" She asks.

"No, 'They' will not come again whilst your mother and I are still alive and breathing." Sly assures them. "Got that?"

"Yeah." Erin says reluctantly.

"Good. We going to leave tonight and go off to another more secure place than here. Uncle Bentley's got it all covered." Sly coolly explains. " We need to start putting things back into the boxes they came in, don't act scared or worried because we've got it under control."

"But I like it here." Alex complains.

"So do I, being back here is great, but we have to leave for the sake of staying out of trouble." Sly explains.

"Where are we going?" Erin asks.

"I don't know, I haven't been told." Sly replies back. "Come on, it'll be done before you know it."

Sly begins to set an example by putting things back in their boxes at a calm and relaxed pace, trying to set the mood of this family as one of calm.

"You must know something." Erin starts. "Mom, what's going on?"

"Nothing sweetheart, your father has it all under control." She replies.

"Just tell us what is really going on, I mean, if we're going to be like you, then we need some experience, right?" Alex postulates.

"No, no, no, no. You're kids, I don't want you to be involved in this." Sly says as he places the large black book inside it's box.

"You just think we can't handle the pressure as they torture us to within an inch of our lives." Alex wondrously states.

"Hey!" Sly says, angry that his son has said this. "That is not how you should speak, we won't be captured in the first place if we just do as I say."

"Come on, just tell us what's happening, we can understand." Alex says, escalating his voice. But Sly ignores him, continuing to pack items at the same calm pace as before.

"Come on kids, do as your father says." Carmelita instructs, as she begins to pack items into their respective boxes as well. The last thing they need now is a heated argument. They all start to condense the items of this apartment into several cardboard boxes. Alex still holds resentment towards his father for hiding the story from him, he feels that he should have the right to know. They are all in this family together.

"Just admit it dad, ever since you gave us your precious items. You don't want to give up your… your…" Alex says, searching for the right word.

"Please Alex, I'm begging you to stop questioning me so much about what's happening and instead do as I say." Sly pleas, leaning over to put more items in a box.

"Position." Erin whispers in Alex's ear as Sly explains this.

"Your position!" Alex says triumphantly, as if he'd come up with that word.

"Seriously, I didn't do my first real big planned heist until I was 18." Sly explains. "And you think you can lead us out of this mess at the age of 8?"

"Yeah, I could do it." Alex says, challenging his father's authority.

"Okay hotshot. Picture this," Sly says, getting down to his level to kneel beside him and putting his arm around him. "There's an entire unit, dedicated to catching you and you only. They're getting really close and they've told you that they will get, not only you but also, everyone you've ever worked with in the next 48 hours. Tell me what would you do if you were in my situation."

"I would go after them and defeat them!" Alex confidently answers. Sly has a mental facepalm.

"Son, I've had to pick my battles over the years. If I went after everyone you can be certain that your mother would have had the personal pleasure of locking me up within a year." Sly comments. Carmelita doesn't know how to react, other than to continue listening and packing.

"This battle is one we can't fight and win. So we have to run." Sly explains. He knows too well how to run from everyone from police to fraudulent bankers.

"But running is cowardly." Alex argues.

"Running is 30 percent of the fun." Sly counters insightfully.

"Then what's the rest of it?" Carmelita asks curiously, not particularly pleased.

"50 percent is the score itself and 20 percent is the entry." Sly explains casually, as if he'd thought of this question earlier.

"So come on, we've got to keep on running." Sly says to Alex as he gets up to pack more boxes.

"But if we're going to do this from the rest of our lives, why not just attack them and stop them from chasing us." Alex argues again. Sly is annoyed that he will not let up.

"Because that's the never ending struggle that we face." Sly says. He tried once to get Interpol to stop chasing him by publically announcing his retirement, but they don't care about what his future intentions are. "Besides, it's no fun if someone doesn't come after you for what you've done. So learn to enjoy it."

Finally, this seems to quell Alex's desire or information and he goes pack to packing, as they do for the rest of the afternoon. The observers attempting to watch them from the roof of the tall apartment building that overlooks their apartment window can't see anything, nor anyone from their position. They don't hear from anyone for the rest of the day, no calls, no one personally coming to tell them something. At least the owner of this penthouse was accommodating in allowing them on the roof of the building. But their wait for something of interest continues on as the light begins to fade, just like their chances of finding anything useful.

**7:51pm**

By this time, all of the boxes are well and truly packed. All of the cardboard flaps are secured; all of their precious possessions are secured in their cases. All they wait for now is for Joey to bring the van around so they can load it up as it read in the big black book.

Right on cue, a knock at the door is heard and Sly answers it, having waited for it since 6pm. It's Joey.

"Bentley's told me everything. Come on, I'll help out too." Joey says quietly, entering the room to pick up a box and carry it down the stairs. They begin to all start to carry boxes down to the street level and place them into the van which has been changed slightly to disguise it's appearance. Instead of the black paint it had before, it's now a light grey and also the license plates have been changed as well. It takes them 10 minutes to load up all of the boxes into the van using up most of the space in the process.

"There's a car parked in the side street that's you're taking. You can follow me out of the city." Joey says, handing over a set of keys to Carmelita, who wants to drive. The Cooper's walk around the block to the side street he was talking about and she presses the unlock button on the key fob. A set of light's flash on the their car, a new German 4 door sedan. Sly thinks Joey has outdone himself in getting this for them, regardless if has bought it or stole it. They get into the car and pull out of the very tight parking space this car is in. When Carmelita makes the right hand turn out of the side street, Joey sets off in the van to give them something to follow. They left the light on the apartment so that the surveillance team looking at them with have nothing to look at all night long.

The mini convoy make the slow turns through many of the Parisian streets as they negotiate the Saturday night traffic by following Joey's lead in the van. It's a quiet night; but for Sly, who sit's in the front passenger seat, it only means that it will be easier to hear them coming. Everywhere, he looks for signs that an impending ambush is coming. Surely they couldn't have slipped out that easily? Sly isn't taking any chances despite the progress they are making, or lack of it currently as they wait at a set of traffic lights. No one says anything in this car, not even a word as Carmelita drives. After 20 minutes, they make it onto the ring road around Paris, known as the Périphérique. It is at this point that Joey breaks the silence on the walkie talkie that rests in the drink holders in the central console behind the gear lever.

"Okay, Bentley says that we're going to have to meet someone along the way, to get new identities." Joey's voice crackles over the speaker.

"Roger that." Sly replies. He didn't think that they needed new identities considering they got their new one's only a few days ago. But this is Bentley he is talking about; he's just being extra secure for their safety.

"It's another 15 kilometres away in a distribution centre off the motorway." Joey details.

"Copy that." Sly replies again.

The two-vehicle convoy continues on the road without any major hitches, the traffic is a little heavy but it's flowing at the indicated speed limit, the street lamps illuminating the road in a yellowy orange glow. After getting off the Périphérique, they travel about 5 kilometres before turning off the motorway and arriving at a giant warehouse. The trucks are still coming and going from this transport hub at this hour, they will keep going 24 hours a day to keep this company's deliveries going. They see the van stop next to another parked car that faces outwards and has it's interior lights on, they see the person inside who is waiting for them to arrive. Joey pulls into the carpark beside this car and puts the window down so he can do the exchange with the driver. Carmelita stops about 20 metres away from this exchange but they can see the switching of a scrunched up paper bag and a wad of cash. Joey then reverses out of the carpark and heads towards the exit. Carmelita turns around the car and continues to follow the van as they move away from Paris.

But the occupant of the car that handed over the fake passports and ID does not move from his spot, he has another customer that is coming shortly. They requested a special favour to be done from him; it didn't require any extra effort on his part. He sits motionless in the car for 5 minutes, listening to the radio crackle on about the day's news. He watches as a small 2 door French coupe drives up to him and parks in the spot next to him in the same way that Joey did with the van. The window of the arriving car is already down.

"Is our package there?" She asks firmly.

"No."

"Good." She flatly says, before tossing another wad of cash, 10,000 euros to be exact, into the waiting car, the same amount that Joey handed over. He hands over another paper bag to the female driver before she drives off. In her lap, she unrolls the scrunched paper bag to check it's contents whilst keeping one hand on the steering wheel. 5 passports, check, 3 driver's licenses, check. All of them exact copies of what he gave the previous customer before except for one crucial detail.


	30. Someone Left Behind

**Chapter 29 – Someone Left Behind**

**Matt's Apartment, Paris, France. 8:45pm 29****th**** April 2022.**

Already 3 hours into their next all night gaming session fuelled on nothing but soda and chips, they haven't yet noticed that something is missing from this picture. Nope, it isn't the salt content on the chips or the fizziness of the drinks; It's not the fact that there's slightly less hateful banter going on over the internet; it's not that they're losing many games, they have an average record so far; It's not the brightness of the TV or the softness of the couch.

"Has anyone seen our little bro Matt?" One of them asks casually and without concern.

They reply in a mumble of no's and head shakes, all without taking their eyes off the screen.

"Maybe he's out, getting it on with his lady friend?" The same teenage rat says. He pauses for effect.

"But what are the chances of that?"

They all chuckle at his joke.

"But seriously, where is he?" One asks.

"Yeah, he hasn't annoyed us all evening." Another comments with realisation.

"After this round, I'm going to find where he is, otherwise it's gonna affect my game." He states.

"Don't be too long, we're in a good lobby." Another says.

They finish their round, on top of course, and watch as one of their crew takes of his headset and quickly rushes into Matt's bedroom, but the light isn't on and he's not in here.

"I don't think he's here." He shouts from Matt's bedroom.

"Are you sure?" One says.

"I'm positive." He says, returning to the couch.

"Man, what should we do?" He asks back to the eldest brother.

"We'll we could call the police and report him missing." He wonders.

"But they'll find all of our pirated movies, TV Shows, music, the whole 20TB of it." Another worries.

"We could go and look for him ourselves, like a huge game of Hide and Seek, he's gotta be out there somewhere." He says. They pause, they know which they'd rather do.

"I'd call the police." One says.

"Yeah."

"Me too."

"But I just downloaded a whole heap of good movies during the day" He complains.

"We'll hide the hard drive, they're not going to suspect a thing." One assures him.

"Well, I don't care. At some point there's a difference between flesh and bone and plastic and silicon, and I know which I'd rather have. I'm going out." He announces.

"Outside, at night?" One asks. "Are you crazy?"

"It's not such a big deal compared to our missing brother." He responds.

"Go on, we'll continue without you until you come crying back." One replies.

"Hey, I'm going to find him! Now, where's the school class list?" He asks.

"You're really serious about getting him?" Another asks, changing his jovial tone into one of seriousness.

"Yeah, he's probably still at his new friend's house. I'm going there now, anyone else want to join me?" He asks.

"You know I'm not an outside, type of guy." One says.

"And we're kind of busy in this game." Another says

"We're going to continue on." Another says.

"Fine, be that way." He spites as he takes the sheet of paper before closing the front door. The three remaining rats can't believe that he'd risk himself on the outside. But then again, a desperate person would do anything to reach their goal. Just like attaching a sticky bomb to a teammate as they run into a crowded area in order to pick up that clutch triple kill.

The air is so… clear and clean, the wind so cool on his face. He wonders why he had never gone out before. Oh yeah, nature doesn't have a TV and a gaming console. But the air is such a breath of… well, fresh air. Compared with the constantly hot and muggy room they all sat in for hour upon hour, it's like he can suddenly breath again after coming up from a deep dive in the ocean.

He checks the list of names on the list. He finds the two kids he's looking for, it's easy as they are the only two students that share the same house and last name in his class. Now he grabs out his smart phone and speaks into it's microphone to give it the instructions it need to calculate a route. Once it's found the quickest route, he begins his trek.

Once he reaches the correct apartment block, He looks for the apartment number of the sheet and dials it on the console. He waits for someone to pick up but no one does, so he tries a random apartment number to get inside.

"Hello." A young voice says.

"Sorry, but I have a friend who lives, um, 2 floors up from you and he's not letting me in so can you do that for me please?

"Okay." He says before hanging up. A click is heard as the lock unlocks and he enters in the apartment.

"Your rescue party is arriving." The skunk shouts mockingly to his prisoner from the kitchen. "I think it's your brother."

Matt's hopes finally rise after being stuck in this room with nothing to do for several hours other than hope someone gets him out. But he never thought one of his agoraphobic brothers would rescue him, he's put Special Forces and the army coming above this happening.

"Don't make a sound or I'll have to remove the bed." The skunk warns. Without the bed, Matt thinks, he'll have just a bare room to look at all night as he struggles to get to sleep. The skunk waits for the footsteps to eventuate near his doorstep, they do and go straight past him as he wants.

This 16 year old rat walks up to the fifth floor as it says on the sheet of paper and knocks on the door, the knock moves the door open, not even the lock was in place. What he sees is an empty apartment, with the lights still on.

"Hello?" He asks as he steps slowly into the apartment. It's eerily quiet inside, like a haunted house in the middle of Paris. As the seconds pass, he feels more comfortable in walking around the place at a normal pace. He goes into the rooms, looking for anyone but each search reveals nothing. After this failure, he decides to go down to the person that he asked to let him in, hoping they'd know what had happened. He leaves the abandoned apartment and walks leisurely down the stairs.

He knocks at the front door and he gets an instant response.

"Who is it?" He asks.

"Um, I'm the guy that you let up, and um, I was wondering if you could help me with something." The rat asks.

"Okay." He replies, opening the door up and letting his guest in. "What can I help you with?"

"Are you parents home or something?" The rat asks.

"No, I live by myself." The skunk asserts.

"That's um, kinda lonely." The rat comments.

"So what is it that you want?" The skunk asks. He knows full well what he wants.

"Um, I'm looking for my little brother, he was at his friend's apartment which is two floors up from you according to this class list. But I went up and everything is, is gone. It's like abandoned or something." The rat says, trying to comprehend what he has seen. The real world has become stranger than the fictional world could ever offer.

"I've never heard of that." The skunk replies.

"So, do you like, have your parents send you money or something?" The rat asks, wanting to know how someone so young can live on their own.

"Trust fund." The skunk simply states.

"Cool, that's what I have." The rat says.

"Yeah, without it, I'd be on the streets." The skunk says.

"Yeah." The rat comments, wondering briefly what that life might be like without the money that keeps trickling in from the all important fund.

"Why do you have one?" The skunk asks.

"Uh, both of my parents are dead." The rat casually says.

The bombshell has been dropped, obliterating it's unintended target fully.

"Same." The skunk says. "The world is unkind to us both."

"Yeah, it's pretty rough." The rat says.

Matt just feels like crying endlessly.

"So, have you seen my brother, he's like 8 years old, looks like me a bit but smaller." The rat says.

"Can't say I have. I've been inside all day." The skunk says.

"Oh dude, d'you play Warmonger 9? Because I'm on that all night with my bro's." The rat asks.

"I don't like video games, they're just not for me. Instead, I bury myself inside an old book whilst listening to some tasty vinyl." The skunk explains as he walks over to a turntable.

"Vinyl? As in, records?" The rat asks surprisingly, he has never seen one in real life before.

"This one's my favourite." The skunk says. He places the needle at the start and some swing music fills the air with it's slow drum beat at 88bpm accompanied with some jazz. The rat is uncomfortable with the sound but the catchy beat makes it bearable for him.

But over the sound of the record player, a high pitch crying is heard by the older rat coming from one of the bedrooms.

"Do you have like a baby brother or someone? Cause I think I can hear someone… crying."

"I can't hear it, the record's playing fine." The skunk says.

As the rat moves closer to the door that is sound is emanating from, the sound becomes louder, both due to the fact that he is moving closer to the source and that the source is getting louder.

"Dude I think you should do something about it." The rat asks back concernedly to the skunk, who is clearly enjoying his music too much to notice. So the rat decides to take matters into his own hands. He twists the knob slowly and opens the door the same way, not wanting to disturb whoever may be inside. He looks around slowly and sees someone to the left of the bed face down crying into their folded arms which are now moist like baby oil was rubbed onto them.

"Matt?" The teenage rat asks himself confusedly. But Matt doesn't care; he is all consumed in his efforts of crying out his sorrows.

"You, you heard that, didn't you?" The rat asks, realising what he has inadvertently done.

"Look, it's just a misunderstanding. We did it to stop this from happening to you. Imagine what it was like when I was around your age, when mom and dad actually died." The rat tries to console his younger brother to no avail.

"Come on, we've got to go home." He says, trying to pick up his brother. But as soon as he tries this, Matt thrashes himself at him, preventing such action from happening. He is angry as well that he had this hidden this from him for all of his life, hidden with the lie that they worked overseas and were too busy to contact. The teenage rat shields himself from this attack with his hands and by backing off. He'll let him have his space until he calms down. Time passes, then more time as he waits on the other side of the bed. It feels like an eternity in this room with no clocks or visual cues to estimate the current time. Once he hears the crying die down a bit, he tries again.

"You okay?" He asks to his little brother. The teenage rat is now sitting on the other side the bed and turning his head to ask this question.

"You're a piece of work, a sick piece of work." Matt shouts at him. He follows with more insults that he never would usually muster but has learnt from the swearing that occurs when his brothers are casually swearing at opponents in their game. His older brother takes it in, he knows that he deserves every last syllable. Once Matt has sworn all that he can, he can tell has calmed down now that he has gotten it out of his system.

"So, uh, what are you doing here in the first place?" The teenage rat asks. Going back to his original purpose of coming here. Matt doesn't reply.

"I'm going to ask your friend. I'll be right back." He promises, standing up to walk towards the door. But when he tries to open the door, the handle doesn't budge. He has been locked inside as well. He tries harder to unlock the door, pushing down hard, then using his leg but it still doesn't budge.

"Have we been kidnapped?" He asks worriedly to Matt, still lying on the floor. But then he remembers he has his phone, he could call back and get his brothers to help him. However, they never answer the phone for anything during a game, zero distractions.

"Hey, Let us out!" He shouts through the shut door. No reply is heard. He thinks it's worth a shot, calling his bros for help, it's the only shot he can see right now. He calls back home and waits for a pick up that inevitably doesn't come. So he tries again, hoping that eventually he'll call in between games so that they'll pick up. He tries each time for the next 5 minutes, and makes another 11 failed attempts until he finally gets through. All while Matt becomes silent, having cried and raged himself to sleep.

"Guys." He says.

"You're alive!" One says in astonishment.

"Yeah, it's not a warzone outside." He rationalises.

"But it is in here, we got not one, not two, but 3 quad kills. Can you believe it?" He says, but the trapped teenage rat doesn't share their same excitement.

"Can you guys come help us? We're trapped." He asks.

"I told you that the outside is dangerous." One says.

"Can you just do it? Use your mobile's GPS to find my location. There's a psycho 13 year old skunk holing us up in here." He asks desperately.

"Yeah, but what floor are you on? There are no houses in Paris." One asks. The GPS won't tell him how high off the ground they are.

"Two from the top floor." He replies. "Hurry."

"Okay." One replies, before backing them out of the match lobby.

"Guys, one of our own has been imprisoned, by a terrifying creature." He begins, dramatizing the whole speech. "It is up to us to save him, or we'll have to find another person to replace him. And I, we, intend to not let that happen, because his K/D ratio is right up there, and it'll be to difficult to find someone else who also happens to be your brother. So let's get him." He says, standing trumphantly on the couch like a sailor at the bow of the ship staring into the sun.

**15 Minutes Later, at the base of the apartment.**

"This is like a brand new map, I'll name it; The Apartment." One says in awe. Another one of them instead, makes progress and buzzes for the apartment that he said he was trapped in.

"Yes?" The skunk asks, looking at their faces from the intercom, whilst they can't see him.

"Um, this is the locksmith, and um, the lady downstairs isn't answering her intercom so can you let us in so we can, uh, do our job?" He asks, trying to get them all in somehow.

"Okay." The occupant replies, unlocking the door and allowing their entry. The skunk them goes slightly towards the bedroom door to ask them a question.

"How many brother or sisters do you have?" He asks. The older rat is still awake with nothing to do, this stimulation is like a welcome return for him.

"3." He replies back. Matt is still sleeping on the floor.

"Perfect." He replies back, hiding his intentions. The full set is coming. The skunk prepares for the predicted onslaught, but if it was as easy as it was before. This time with will be of average difficulty. The skunks attention is drawn to the kitchen and the knife block that contains all sorts of knives; he is proficient in their use but only in cooking, not in using it against someone. He grabs a small serrated steak knife and holds it against his arm in his right hand, with the blade facing outwards. He hears them footsteps come up the stairs and waits for them to enter, but strangely, they continue on upstairs. Nevertheless, the skunk waits by the door, anticipating their arrival.

In the hallway, the three rats run up the stairs to the top, so they can count two floors down. When they reach the top, they share the same surprise at the first rat to see this sight.

"This must be where the other team spawn." One comments in wonder. They all start to go back down the stairs exactly two floors. They wait at the front door so they can figure out a plan.

"There's three of us, one of him." One starts whispering.

"Yeah, but how many times does the one win?" Another counters.

"That's only because one of us is the one." He replies back.

"This is real life, only one life so we gotta not rush and conserve it." He explains.

"Okay, but we're not going to be murdered, there's some crazy kid inside who's probably lost his mind from playing too many video games." One says.

"Unlike us." Another replies.

"Right, so…" He plans out.

From inside the apartment, the skunk is listening on every word that they say from just inside the front door. Because, unlike in video games, when they are talking between each other, the enemy can hear them as well. After about 45 seconds, he can hear the door knob open, he left it open for them to come inside which he thinks will make them more complacent. They each file in single file, keeping their eyes out for someone whilst trying to be as quiet as possible. So quiet in fact, that the two captives don't know they are here yet.

All of them make it inside the room without finding anyone, but they do see the chair that is block a door. Hiding low against the kitchen cabinets, the skunk watches them all take sight of the chair and realise that this is where they are being hidden. When he sees them try to get to the chair that blocks the door he makes his presence known.

"Hey, what are you doing in here?" The skunk asks confusedly whilst also acting surprised that they have come here. "This is my house."

"I'm sorry, uh, kid." One says back, unsure how to address him as the skunk walks over to them and gets himself in between them and the door.

"Please, it's all just a misunderstanding." The skunk says, now showing the blade's edge to them. This causes them to become scared and take a backwards step.

"Help us guys, just take him out or something." The teenage rat shouts through the door whilst banging as well.

"He's in there." One of them realises.

"Get back." The skunk warns, now starting to advance on them which forces them back slowly towards the window. Even though they outnumber him and are physically taller, they don't act like it right now as they cower behind each other all whilst they keep on retreating towards the window. Eventually, there is nowhere left to go as they are all squished in a corner, confronted by the skunk.

It picks up the interest of the observing duo, who have grown bored of watching their target apartment and instead are looking at other things to keep them stimulated. The apartment has just been nothing but abandoned, no activity to speak of all afternoon. This new and crazy development is the most exciting thing all day.

"We have an assault in progress." She radios to the second observer team, who are on duty to watch the front door of the apartment block. "Suspect is a child carrying a knife in the apartment on the 3rd level."

The other team has had a somewhat more stimulating day which had been aroused further with the entrance of what looked like a quartet of brothers. They burst out of the shop that they were occupying across from the apartment and race across the street and dial the offender's apartment.

Upstairs though, the skunk is taking this distraction in his stride, much to the relief of the cornered rats.

"Stop it now, you are surrounded, put down the knife and surrender yourself." He shouts clearly into the microphone. When the skunk hears this, he looks back at the rats with an accusatory look that says 'you're in for it now'. He replaces the phone and walks back to the rats who have not let up their fear.

"Which one of you called the police?" He asks. All of them become surprised, even the older rat who is listening in from inside the bedroom.

"It doesn't matter, all of you get inside that room or one of you gets it." The skunk warns, threatening again with his blade. It works like a charm on these rats who seem to be over confidant online and devoid of it in real life. They walk quickly over to the bedroom as they remove the chair from it's bracing position against the door and quickly try to rush inside to safe themselves. But when they open the door. One rat tries to escape but struggles against his three brothers wanting to do the opposite.

"Wait, get back out." The older rat says as he watches them all cower inside the bedroom, the skunk still advancing on them to hide them before the police come.

"Well, I'm not going to back down. I'm taller, stronger and better at three sixty no scopes than you'll ever be." He says, trying to get some dominion over him, but it doesn't work.

"Meaningless words." The skunk says, as if to make it seem as if what he said meant nothing. "Now move!"

"You're done, when the police come, you'll be in jail for this." The rat warns, not taking a backwards step, being brave in order to make up for what he accidentally did to his little brother. He wants to make up for it, even if Matt doesn't see it for himself. But the skunk sticks his arm out with the knife held outwards, forcing him to move back in order to not get cut. The rat is standing in the doorway now, the others are hiding around the corner next to the wall. The skunk steps forward in desperation, knowing that his time surely running out to get them hidden from sight.

"Hold the door open!" The rat urges his brothers to do instead of acting like cowards, but they don't budge an inch, more concerned for their own survival. A large thud on the door breaks his shackle and dominion over them. He knows who it must be.

The door is kicked in with brute force and the two agents draw their guns and spot their suspect.

"Drop the weapon!" He shouts. They both advance quickly on the skunk, they are not afraid of his puny knife, nor do they think he will use it.

"I've been set up, it's him!" The skunk says, pointing at the oldest rat in the room.

"Liar!" He shouts before getting close enough to force him to the ground and spread out his hands, banging them against the ground so he lets go of the knife. The other agent readies a pair of handcuffs which are securely fastened after the weapon is pushed away from the offender. When the rat sees this quick and brutal display of physicality, he sees how his tiny act of bravery is just that, tiny, in comparison to these plain clothed law enforcers who just came in and dealt with him in less than 15 seconds. It just shows how relatively weak he is compared to others.

Once Jeremy is all tied up, the agent runs to the teenage rat who is staring at him, a little scared.

"Are you okay?" He asks, getting to his feet.

"Uh, not really." He replies.

"Any injuries? Any shock?"

"No, we're all shaken up." He replies candidly.

"'We're'?" He asks, brushing past him to look inside to find the four other rats, one of them face down on the ground. He instantly drops down to help him by turning over but this just succeeds in waking him up.

"You okay kid?" He asks.

"uhhhhhhh" Matt says, still tired.

"Good. Boys, I'll just need some statements for the record from all of you then I can call your parents to get you back home." He explains happily, having the satisfaction of another crime prevented, even if it's one they weren't initially after.

"We have no parents, sir." He explains back.

"My apologies." The agent replies. "Anyone who can give you a lift?"

"No sir." He replies back.

"How about I'll call you guys a taxi?"

"Thank you sir but we don't live far away so we're just going to walk." He says as the rest of them slowly emerge from the bedroom, all except one.

The other agent is busy taking photos both of the suspect and the knife, evidence for a quick and easy conviction along with multiple witness statements of the five victims and the 4 agents who witnessed it.

"You are being charged with multiple kidnapping offences as well as armed assault." He flatly says. "I hope you change your mind about yourself after today; if not, prison will be able to help you along. Do you have a parent and or legal guardian we can notify?"

"All of them are dead." Jeremy says, as if he's proud of his independence.

"Even easier." The agent comments, unfazed. "Come on." He says forcefully, lifting up the skunk from the ground and holding him by the handcuffs in order to escort him out of the building and towards the police station where he will no longer be his responsibility. He has a master criminal to continue to spy on.

The next 10 minutes is taken up with the rats taking their turns to have their version of the events recorded as evidence, with the agent supervising them inside this apartment and holding his phone, which he uses to record the events. Each of them find it hard to differentiate their events from each other, which is good for the agent as the stories won't conflict with each other. He has finished the 4 older rats versions first.

"So uh, if you don't want to say anything, if it's too much then you don't have to, we should have enough evidence to convict him anyway but do you want to add anything that may be of interest or want to just say for the record?" He asks, holding out the phone near his chin.

"Well I was leaving my friends place on the fifth floor..." Matt starts. This immediately gets the attention of the agent. But one of the rats interjects before he can interrogate Matt some more.

"What? The place is empty, deserted, like it's been abandoned. We saw it when we tried to look for you." He says.

"Do you know what time you left your 'friend's' place?" The agent asks.

"It was about 1:30pm but I don't know exactly." Matt answers.

"Who exactly were these friends?" He asks.

"Sir, I know you're doing you're job and all but I don't know how that's going to help." One of the rats argues. The agent realises that it would be difficult to extract any information that he knows with them all around.

"I'm trying to be thorough here." He says. Matt becomes aware of the grander scheme around him and his involvement in it.

"How old were your friends?" He asks. The other rats realise that there must be a secondary plot that is happening around them. Matt stays silent, thinking that by saying nothing, he won't give anything away that may harm Alex and Erin.

"You four need to go home now, I need to ask your little brother some questions in private." He explains.

"He's been through a lot today and…" The oldest rat tries to argue, concerned for Matt's welfare.

"It won't take too much longer, like 5 minutes is all I'll need, you can sit there and wait while I do this." The agent calmly tries to explain whilst leading Matt back into the bedroom to get a quiet place to talk to him in private. Matt climbs up on the bed to sit on something comfortable.

"What you don't know is that your friends are actually the children of a very dangerous pair of criminals, worse than anything on TV, films or books. And the reason why we managed to rescue you and your brothers tonight is because we were trying to look for them and we happened to see that skunk about to hurt 3 of your brothers out there. If you're concerned for your friends, don't worry because they are innocent, they have done nothing wrong." The agent tries to explain in the simplest way to this kid.

"So, if you want to be a hero and help us catch some real bad guys then all you have to do is say things about them, like um; what sort of weapons they have? Or perhaps, what you may have seen them do whilst you were there."

Matt remains silent.

"I'm not saying that you know everything about them, but if you saw anything that was, different or, strange then just say it to me." He says. There is a pause as he waits for Matt to speak.

"I'm sorry Mr. Officer, but I don't know anything about them, they just looked ordinary." Matt says, acting innocent. In his head, he is trying to not think of anything that reminds him of Alex or Erin or even anything of the parents or what Sly had told him about himself.

"No, I should be sorry for getting you to this, it was, it was my mistake, I was um, being too harsh on you. You're a good kid little guy, you were brave and so were your brothers. You're going to turn out just fine unlike that skunk." The agent says.

"Um, thanks." Matt replies getting off the bed.

"No, thank you." The agent says, opening the door for him.

"You've all been very brave tonight, all of you. And from me and the Paris police, we can assure you that we will lock him up for a very long time so he doesn't do this to anyone ever again." The agent says to them all, but he knows that since the skunk is only a child of 13 years and a first offender, it is very unlikely he would go near a juvinile prison at all. He's just trying to give some sort of veneer of safety for these traumatised kids in the hope it will make them feel better. "Just stick together on your way home, drunk people can do some crazy things." The agent warns them before walking out of the door.

They all pause for a moment, to think of how this crazy night has unfolded and now, ended. They are all still alive, but more than anything they have a new found, not exactly respect, but recognition for their little brother. They had ignored him daily but no matter whatever the age difference between him an the other four older brothers, Matt will always be their brother. And now, they show that recognition to him. They all walk out together from this crazy apartment block with a story to think, but not tell. They stick together, just as the agent said, on the way back, with Matt sleeping on top of the oldest rat's shoulders with the other's walking just behind. Even if the streets are quiet and the drunk people are not visible to them, they'll still stick together and now it seems they will do so even more until they grow up and separate.

But not enough to allow him to play their game. In any case, Matt doesn't want to.


	31. Into the Night

**Chapter 30 – Into the Night**

**9:38pm 29****th**** April 2022.**

They still continue driving on the motorway, following the light grey van in front of them. They aren't travelling quickly either, Carmelita sees the speedometer reading 130 km/h which is the exact speed limit. They still yet don't know exactly where they are going yet, Joey hasn't told them so Sly assumes Bentley hasn't told him yet.

"Where are we going now?" Alex asks, feeling a bit tired.

"I don't know, I'll tell you when we find out." Sly says, half turning his head to answer. He sees that Erin is fast asleep, turned towards the outside of the car. Sly sees this peaceful slight, along with Alex attempting to fall asleep as well, he hopes it continues to be like this.

Sly continues to be on the look out for anything; anyone following them and signs as to where joey is taking them in the interim are his main priorities. From what he is seeing, it looks like they are heading north due to all the signs pointing towards Lille and Calais. But the final destination is unknown to him.

For several hours they continue to drive on further, still heading north. Sly and Carmelita are awake as ever but their kids are as far from it as possible. Their heads are resting sideways against the leather seatbacks, with only the seat belts preventing them from slipping down into the foot well.

The night as been extremely quiet, it makes Sly feel on edge. The feeling that the quiet of the night can't continue on forever and that somewhere, somehow, there is someone watching them and waiting for an opportunity. The walkie talkie comes to life for the first time in hours.

"Um, Have you heard from Bentley yet? Because we're going to hit the channel soon if he doesn't tell us where we are going yet." Joey asks.

That's strange, Sly thinks to himself.

"Do you have a way to contact him? To ask?" Sly asks, mindful of the sleeping children in the back.

"I've been trying him all night, nothing." Joey says.

"Any word from Penelope? Murray? Anyone?" Sly asks, hoping for just one bit of good progress.

"It's a 15 hour flight so they wouldn't have landed yet." Joey explains. "As for anyone, no."

After a brief pause, Sly comes to the only conclusion he thinks possible, no matter how frightening it is.

"I think he's in trouble." Sly says, a worry creeps into his tone of voice. Then Sly thinks of something else quickly to ask him.

"Do you know what the range of communication on these things are?" Sly asks. "Like what's the distance we can go away from each other and still talk?"

Sly hears the fumbling of the communication device against plastic from his end.

"It's on the bottom here. It says, line of sight range." Joey says. Sly looks at the bottom of his two way radio and sees the same thing. Sly jumps to the conclusion he fears. Quickly, he unlocks the glove box and takes the binocucom out and looks behind the car through the back window.

"So if they want to listen in, they have to bee able to see us." Sly says.

"Theoretically." Joey confirms. "Do you think?"

"I'm sure of it." Sly says, confident in his answer. "They have to be somewhere."

He continues to look around in the darkness past every set of trailing headlamps into the windshields of every car, truck and van that he can see. But he can't find any clues as to which one may listening if any are actually doing so. The raccoon is sure that someone has to be listening in, his paranoia is fuelling that feeling, however, he is falling to the same fault that everyone does when failing to see him sneaking above the rooftops.

He fails to look up.

**400 metres above the two car convoy, near Calais, France. 11:02pm, 29****th**** April 2022.**

The pilot of this helicopter doesn't panic, if he did then he would be spotted. He continues to remain above the van so he can't be spotted. He is lucky that the silent electric engine of this small helicopter makes virtually no noise, the sound of the blades slicing the air is louder than this. The co pilot is not operating the controls of the helicopter but the controls of an old fashioned ham radio, dialled in to the correct frequency of this conversation they are having.

"In 10 minutes they'll hit the channel. If they get on it'll be suicide." The pilot says, not even needing a microphone to do so because of how quiet his vehicle is.

"But he's becoming paranoid, he thinks someone is after him." He replies back.

"Why wouldn't he be? He's an outlaw, a master criminal." The pilot says before picking up a rugged satellite phone.

"Sir, he's approaching the channel." He says.

"Keep following him until you can't fly any further." Barkley insists. "He won't get on the train or the ferry, it's practically suicide."

That's what I said earlier, he thinks.

"Roger that." The pilot says before hanging up. Barkley couldn't have thought it could be easier than this; they are backing themselves into a geographical wall. But this seasoned investigator knows that nothing is certain until it's happened, chasing Sly Cooper does that to everyone. They think they are finally on the front foot, making the decisions, controlling the play instead of reacting to being 5 steps behind all of the time. He is sure that neutralising their playmaker has nullified the opposition's control of the game, nothing is being played from the back after sacrificing himself in an attempt to help his team get that one step ahead needed to give them a chance.

Indeed, the call to Sly to get them out of Paris has cost him his own security. When someone sends out that many signals at one time, it is almost certain that they would figure out the origin of them no matter how much scrambling and encryption is done. Bentley didn't realise that they were there before it was too late. It was a quick insertion, too quick so he didn't have enough time to raise the nuclear blast doors before they got in. He tried sending out an army of automated flying machines to neutralise the heavily armed police, but it didn't have much effect as they got taken out by an EMP grenade. Bentley didn't booby trap the place extensively, instead focusing on preventing from finding him in the first place, but did deploy a concoction of gases into the rooms which could send anyone to sleep in seconds, but it didn't work as they all wore gas masks. There was only one of him and 12 of them when they found him locked inside the most secure room in the entire lab to protect himself. More like delay his capture.

He watched from the inside as they tried to shoot the 10cm thick reinforced Perspex, which was inevitably bulletproof, then try to blast it open which didn't work either. Bentley saw how more people came inside, not more armed police but experts in areas of technology, cryptology and demolition to try to break him out. As Bentley watched them all stare inside into his eyes like an exhibit at a zoo, he couldn't help think of how this must be the end of it all.

Here, sitting in his wheeled chair, waiting to be captured. Sounds of roaring drills, sounds of turning jigsaws grinding shrilly against the thick steel door that he can't hear from the inside. The turtle thinks back towards the good times, it might be his last chance to do so. Of times of seeing Sly pull off grand heists and himself pulling off incredible plans to make those heists possible. Of seeing how Murray turn henchmen lifeless with one punch with raw and uncontrolled power.

But most regretfully, how he will have left his former and only lover leave him in the way he did.

If he ever got the chance, he would try.

He would try, at least one more time before he never sees her again.

Just to know that, to know that…

He had it, that it was possible.

But with each shower of sparks that fly and each new person carrying some new item to the steel door in an effort to make their way inside, the time to think of such things will run out eventually, no safe is impervious to everything given enough time. The army of people outside resort to writing things on paper and computers for Bentley to read from the inside, but he doesn't want to. He has failed himself, he hopes that at least Sly can make it out safely somehow, otherwise his efforts will have been in vain.

No doubt they'll discover all of his secret technology in time once they search the place, maybe some think tank will move in here and continue scientific research it the way this place was built for. Bentley is sure they'll be back for his services, to ask how things work around here, possibly forcing him to work in a government lab somewhere as the intelligence agencies, government R&D facilities and militaries of the world fight for him like a favourite toy, getting him to do jobs around the world instead of wasting away his 'potential' in prison.

Would he want to do that? At least it would keep him busy, in the end, it's what Penelope desired them to do; to be courted by top secret military organisations, to get access to things unseen by only a few souls on earth, and to earn more money than could be imagined. Well, that last part is now out of the question.

It takes them a long time but they finally enter inside this secure room single file, Bentley offers no resistance. They see him in this futuristic wheelchair and worry it could be used against them. So they lifted him out of the chair in an undignified fashion and carried him out a waiting police van.

That was 6 hours ago.

Getting Bentley to draw Sly into their sting was as easy as could be. He keeled over faster than a dingy in a raging storm when he was threatened with Penelope's death.


	32. The Geographical Wall

**Chapter 31 – The Geographical Wall**

**Near Calais, France. 11:03pm, 29****th**** April 2022**

"But if he's not answering, it means they'll already have him." Carmelita explains in the kindest way possible. It's now that Sly realises the whole thing seems to be shutting down.

"It's happening." Sly says, sad at this realisation.

"What?" She asks.

"It's all, all coming to an end now." Sly says flatly. He wouldn't have ever thought he would say this to her out all people many years ago, it would have been her trying to catch him. Now it will be this group handing the logistics and other things as well as the running away. Without Bentley doing his job from behind the scenes, Sly knows that he is up against it.

"Drive up to beside the van." Sly instructs to Carmelita. "We can't risk using the radios anymore."

She does as he says until they are side by side, Joey already has the window down to anticipate this move.

"It's your choice now where to go." Sly shouts upwards to the driver's side of the van. But as he does this, he sees a set of pulsing lights. A red one, then a green one then a double flash of white about 5 metres apart.

"Okay, just follow me." Joey shouts back, accelerating to move in front of the sedan. Sly shouts back to stop this from happening.

"Wait!" He shouts.

"What?" Joey asks.

"There's a helicopter following us." Sly says, pointing upwards. "So we need to lose it before we stop."

"Okay." Joey says before moving the window back up and moving the van to back in front of the sedan. Sly leans over to the left to check on the fuel gauge, just over three quarters full, at least that won't be a problem. Sly sticks his head out of the window to look for the helicopter that was there before and sees it still moving at the same rate they except just behind.

"I'm going to stall them until they run out of energy." Joey says through the two way radio.

"Stop using these, they're listening to us." Sly instructs. Immediately, the line goes dead.

In any case, this tactic could give them a brief window of opportunity to hide when they change over the helicopters if they indeed do that. Joey knows that it's an electric helicopter, which means it's range isn't very far, about 300km. So he thinks they have to stop any minute now if they have been following them since Paris. Just as he thinks of this, the lights of the helicopter are seen going off north into Calais towards the airport, except faster as it tries to land somewhere and recharge.

"We've got a window of opportunity." Joey says through the radio.

"Go into the city and find somewhere hidden, we have to change vehicles." Sly instructs.

"We shouldn't do that." Carmelite protests quietly. "That's where they'll search first. I think we stop over somewhere isolated for one minute, sweep the vehicles for any possible bugs then continue on and make as much distance as we can from where they last saw us."

Sly briefly considers this new plan.

"Slight change of plans, go out into the countryside and we'll sweep the cars quickly and keep driving." Sly instructs.

"Are you sure this is what you want?" Joey says, not wanting to have the plan alternate so quickly.

"I'm positive." Sly says, trusting in Carmelita's new plan.

They turn left on the motorway and then exit straight away, taking the first deserted road they can find to pull over in. It takes them about 5 minutes to do this and in that time it's like they have entered a new world, the lack of any sort of settlement apart from this road cutting through the farms makes them feel more secure. Knowing that no one is around to look at them. Sly gets out of the vehicle along with Joey and they both start checking under the bumpers and under the wheel wells, feeling for any sort of odd lump that could resemble an electronic transmitter. Carmelita stays inside and keeps watch of the kids who are both fast asleep in the back and have been for some time now.

If Barkley is in charge of this pursuit, then Carmelita knows almost everything about what he would do. Working under him for several years had made knowledgeable of all of his tactics, no matter how much she disagreed with some; and his main personality traits, no matter how much she got under his skin. Mainly because, she thinks, she made him afraid that he would be replaced by her due to the fact that Carmelita's ability to hunt down many criminals except for one was second to none. And since Barkley was, and probably still is, a traditionalist. Someone who sees the law in black and white, with a clear line dividing the good from the bad.

However, life is not like that.

Sly rides that line as if he was sliding along a rail, immersing himself in the grey area of society. But the law goes after anyone who has bit of black in their mixture, even if the white is a much larger proportion. Over all of the many long years that she has known him, both professionally and personally, that black has slowly faded away from her view of the racoon she now loves. And ever since he had given up his professional career, she has gotten to see him for the person he is, not the list of crimes his has committed on a file.

And now it's going to come to an end. An end she would like to prolong and delay for as long as possible.

"It's all clear." Sly assures her, shutting the car door slowly to not wake up the kids as he gets in the car.

"Where to next?" She asks both herself and Sly.

"Somewhere, out of sight?" Sly asks, but he remembers that they are far from any sort of shelter for them.

"Well, obviously." Carmelita says. This is about the time when Bentley would chime in with the perfect solution to the problem at hand.

"Um, How about, if we…" Sly starts before retracting his idea.

"If we…" Sly says again but falls short of completing the sentence. Sly groans, his ideas are not adequate he thinks to himself, not good enough to protect everyone.

"We should just keep moving, they're waiting for us to stop so they can ambush us more easily. Otherwise, why didn't they try when they had eyes on for many hours." Carmelita explains. He is glad that she saved his blushes for him.

"Joey, just get moving." Sly instructs over the radio.

"Where to?" He asks.

"Wherever you want, as long as we keep moving." Sly says.

"You're the boss." He says before setting off again.

They continue heading west, along the moon lit coastline of France. Sly continues to be on lookout whilst Carmelita drives behind Joey. He sees no replacement helicopter arrive at their position, it makes him feel slightly more relieved that it seems they aren't tracking his real time position visually. It also means that if they come across some place that could serve as a hidden spot to go to sleep, they won't be found out unless by sheer unluckiness.

It's gets later and later and even these hardened people can't escape the effects of tiredness and sleep. So Sly tells Joey to pull over when he finds an isolated place. What they find is ideal for what they want. A dead end, a long gravel road that goes nowhere and has nothing on it that would make people want to go down there in the first place. Even so, they park their vehicles underneath the branches of nearby trees to somewhat shield them from aerial view. It's not a foolproof solution, nothing is, but they are all too tired to continue on further. Sly thinks it's fine so his confidence in this place sort of rubs off onto everyone one else. Everyone tries to fall asleep in their seats, except for Joey who lies flat across the bench seat of the van.

He's lucky that way, lying flat is a luxury right now.


	33. Constriction Time Again

**Chapter 32 – Constriction V3; Mental Edition**

**1:24am, 30****th**** April 2022.**

He never stops searching for a way, a way to be free. Because if Sly plans to lose tonight, which he doesn't, he will not go down easily. Sly is yet to fall asleep, he is too worried that going to sleep will mean the end. As in closing his eyes will result in the closing of his life on the outside. He doesn't know how Carmelita can sleep in these conditions, once he could have fallen asleep like a tonne of bricks after stealing millions in priceless artifacts, but that didn't worry him. Now it does worry him, not only about how the capture of everyone he holds dear around him but also the fate of the Cooper legacy. Will the line stop in this gravel track in northern France?

However, Sly's body craves sleep right now. Every time his eye lids droop down towards the bottom, it becomes heavier, taking more effort to consciously bring back up to the top so light can enter the fully dilated pupils in the centre of his brown eyes.

He has heard nothing all night; no animals running through the bushes and trees, no insects chirping away in the night, no impending invasion of law enforcement. But the mere thought that they are going to come is enough for Sly to stay awake, ready for the moment when he alerts everyone to get out quickly.

It still doesn't come though, no matter how much he thinks, or wants it to come. That moment would put him out of his tiredness and misery, knowing that they have finally found him and so he can act instead of waiting. Still, he's checked the car and found no bugs so it should have given some relief to his paranoia.

It doesn't though, Sly gets out of the car again as quietly as possible and checks the car again for possible trackers and finds nothing again. He breathes in the cold salty air coming from the nearby ocean as he goes over to the van and checks it himself, again nothing turns up.

Sly has come to assume that somehow they are tracking their position, with some unknown technology that he can't see or doesn't know about. Perhaps a satellite in the sky he thinks, or maybe there's a helicopter with it's lights off watching him out in the open. Whatever he thinks, he is certain that they know where they are. But why they have not arrived yet only asks more questions inside Sly. He immediately concludes that because he is awake, it prevents them from coming to get him.

Sly walks around the cul-de-sac to keep himself awake, hoping that the cold air can give his body enough simulation to stay awake. He stares into the distance, looking for other possible exit strategies into the brush that would no doubt scratch the paint of the cars if they go off the track. Sly turns back towards the spot where the vehicles are parked to check on everything again. He first sees Joey sleeping flat across the bench seat of the van, but that's not what catches his eye. It's that brown paper bag that he collected earlier in the night. It's the only thing that they have taken on board since they left and could possibly hide a tiny tracker or even a bug inside.

Sly wants to take no chances, all he has to do is do the same thing he done for the entirety of his life, taking this paper bag from inside the van. To Sly, even this simple task seems difficult whereas he could have pulled this off with style at full confidence before. But this is what he lacks, confidence that they can break through the onslaught of the police. With the realisation of Bentley being captured, it has almost fully destroyed it. But that won't stop him from trying.

Sly quietly approaches the van's right hand door and looks inside again at the scrunched up paper bag that sits in the passenger foot well. The racoon clasps the handles of the door but remains with his eyes on Joey, hoping that he doesn't hear but expecting that he does. He opens the door and darts his eyes back to Joey, he is still sleeping the same way as he was a few seconds ago. The opening allows Sly to slowly reach in below the level of the seats until he gets to the target, but that paper is so loud when anything touches it and deforms it's material.

With thumb and forefinger, Sly grabs the bag just under where it is rolled up and carefully lifts it off the rubber mat it was lying on and brings it towards him before slowly closing the van door. A great relief explodes in his body; that was the one of the hardest things he has done he thinks to himself, such is his state of mind; lacking any perspective to his actions. In reality, nothing has become significantly harder or more difficult. It is still the constant the threat of arrest and capture that has been with him ever since he got a file at the police department. The only difference is in his head.

After completing such a daring heist of magnificent proportions, Sly opens the paper bag slowly, revealing it's contents. Passports and driver's licenses are what it contains. Sly takes out a random passport to examine it, it's Alex's. The photo is genuine and all of the lettering and quality seems legitimate enough to pass as authentic. But Sly doesn't think they would yet be after a child who's only crime is being his son. So he grabs a different one, his own passport.

It's not the information he is concerned with, but the hard central page of the passport, the part usually containing a circuit board that holds the information about the holder so it can be scanned electronically. However, Sly can see no features that would reveal the tracker he thinks must be inside. So Sly does a drastic measure, he tears out the central page from his passport and tries to snap it and sever the circuitry inside. He succeeds in bending it over like cardboard but no breakage occurs. Sly bends it over along the opposite axis then again and again until he thinks that no tracker could fit inside the unbent space and so then discards the page by throwing it as far as he can into the bushland.

**On the beach.**

"Wait, wait. Hold it." A frantic and quick voice shouts over the radio, delaying everyone's entrance. "He's destroyed a tracker."

"What should we do?" The field commander asks.

There is a pause as the one in charge weighs up the options.

"Continue as planned." Barkley urges. "We have less time so do it quickly and quietly."

"Roger that." He replies.

Being out in the field at this late hour has nearly killed him. But this aging director wants to be there as it happens and be the one calling the shots, as the two biggest thorns in his side are taken out. Everyone he can get up at this hour is here for the operation, surrounding them from all possible sides. Teams will advance from the beach, the road and from both sides of the grassland. Barkley is waiting at the side of the main road, just off the dead end gravel path that his targets are trapped in with one of the teams. There are no police lights, no sirens or flashlights from any of the agents. The agents wear night vision goggles whilst the only warning motorists can see of the police vans at the side of the road are the triangular reflectors placed by their side. As he sees this team start to spread into both sides of the road for more cover, this old dog can't quite help but think there is some trick up Mr. Cooper's sleeve that will get him out of this mess.

Sly thinks over what he should do next, now that he thinks he has discovered the way that they have tracked him to this location. He looks around the area, just to make sure that he is not being watched at the moment, all he sees is the outlines of trees and bushes that are nearby.

"I know you must be out there somewhere. Now, if you've been tracking me all of this time, you've gotta have some plan to get us." Sly starts muttering to himself. "You'll come in from everywhere, taking no chances; from the sky, from the trees, from the road and from the beach in order to leave us with no path out. But if you think, if you think that I'm just going to give up so easily then you better have brought a lot of people. Because if anyone, if anyone, lays their hands on my family then they'll get it."

Sly looks over to the van, knowing that he has left Joey out of his protection.

"Joey, I know that you've served us well and all but this isn't your fight. If you suddenly decide to run off into the night then I won't stop you, all the important stuff is with me." Sly says quietly, facing the van. "But it's me they want, the one they really want to get. You'll be a bonus for them but it's a gonna be peripheral to me."

Sly then walks back over to the car and to look closely at his sleeping family.

"Alex, you idolise me like I did with my father. You try to copy everything that I do and look up to me as a role model. But just don't, don't give up your future for me. I'm done, finished and it should be your turn to make your mark on history."

"Erin, I don't care if you decide to become a doctor or a lawyer, because you're smart enough to do anything. But if you choose to do, or choose anything else, then play to your strengths. If I tried to be like Murray, I wouldn't last. Just do things your way, it's the only way."

"And then there's you. 12 years of trying to impress you paid off, and I couldn't have been happier. So I just wanted to say that you are perfect. Perfect in every way, too many to say or think of. You make me the happiest raccoon in the world."

Sly finishes his goodbyes, despite not knowing where the end must be.

"Should we put him out of his misery?" An agent lying incognito closest to him in the bushes radios in to Barkley.

"Give it 5 seconds." Barkley says over the radio, watching the progress via helmet cameras. He wants to take a deep breath before either being faced with an enraged and determined master criminal or being faced with the other way, the one he wants so much.

"Do it." He says, with conviction.

It is done.

The entire group of agents swarm out from the tree lining to break their cover; encircling the two vehicles quickly with tranquiliser pistols drawn, all targets must be alive. A single dart to the back just below the shoulder of this criminal slumped against the left front door of the car is what has taken him down, the raccoon facing towards the car as he became unable to move under the dart's quick acting formula taken from one of their newly captured criminals. Their actions are quick and above all silent, the longer they can go without alerting anyone is more time for them to position themselves for arrests. Their first task is to move the raccoon out of the way, two agents come in quickly to pick him up off the ground so they can surround the vehicles fully before phase two comes into play.

Which happens 10 seconds later as the two police vans move quickly down the path with their engines roaring intentionally loudly. This is done to wake up the final secondary targets who awake from their sleep to find themselves surrounded by agents clad in black. Carmelita's first thought is to look at the passenger seat, to her horror it is empty. It could be two things in her mind and she assumes the more faithful but more impossible option.

"Where have you taken him?" She shouts at full volume whilst getting out of the car quickly. This wakes the kids up fully.

"You show him to me or I'll get you all!" She threatens turning quickly to make sure they all hear her, but the agents think they are all empty, considering she is outnumbered 20 to one.

"To the van." One shouts. "He in there."

She runs straight towards the armoured van they pointed to, past all of the agents who run after her. She doesn't need a second invitation to jump straight inside as the two people who carried Sly Cooper inside see as she leaps inside. As this happens, another group of agents goes into the van and instantly incapacitates Joey with a dart to send him limp. They quickly carry him and place him inside the same van the three adults are in. After this they shut the door tightly and heavily to prevent their escape.

The kids are more difficult for the agent to handle, not because they are more dangerous but because of the rules around handling children. The weasel's intelligence had suggested that they had children but they never knew what they looked like until now.

"Come on kids, out you get." One agent says kindly, without any malice. The two agents handling them don't draw their guns but only use their hands to appear kinder and more caring, as caring as you could get for an Interpol agent.

"You've taken my parents!" Alex realises, instantly becoming scared. Erin is a reserved as she can possibly be, on the inside she is deeply saddened by the capture of her parents but it's what is, or should be in front of her. The agent who was watch Alex has become confused and shocked beyond his belief. It couldn't have made his task any more difficult or absurd, Sly Cooper seemed like a more straight forward target now. The agent reaches out into the car but not particularly at anything, just in the general direction of the seat where Alex should be in. Erin looks back at this sudden disappearance as she gets out of the car; resistance is and will be futile. The agent who tries to lay a hand on Alex succeeds just as the seatbelt unclicks itself from the clasp. He grabs hard but it doesn't make any sense to him at all. He tries a second hand and manages to find something where there is nothing.

As Erin walks alongside the female agent behind the rear of the car, she remembers of the contents in the boot.

"Can I please grab my clarinet from the trunk quickly?" Erin asks the agent. The agent opens the bootlid and sees the two hard cases inside. "The other one is my brother's Oboe."

The agent looks back at Erin as if to make sure that she can trust her.

"I know what's happening to my parents." She says, as much as it makes her sad inside. The agent decides to grant this child her wish and takes the two differently shaped cases out of the trunk.

"What is your name?" She asks.

"Erin." Erin replies, a fake name will do her no good here and only make her appear to be less honest and trustworthy.

"Okay, Erin; you and your… brother are going to be placed in an orphanage." She says. Erin doesn't reply back and instead follows the agent away from the vans parked at the end of the gravel track and towards the main road. As the two pass behind the van carrying the three criminals, Carmelita bangs hard on the door, trying to get a last look at her daughter, it succeeds as she looks back longingly for as long as she can without crying. The agent can see it visibly troubles Erin.

"I'm sorry you and your brother have to be involved in this, it's the hard part of my job, dealing with innocent people, especially kids. It will all be over soon when you meet your new friends at an orphanage." She explains to Erin as they walk through the darkness together.

Back in the van, Carmelita is crying her eyes out at the fact that her children are being taken from her. It's becoming annoying for the two people at the front.

"Quieten down Ms Fox." Barkley instructs through the tiny metal grate that is the only visual connection between them. Her sadness switches to unbridled fury.

"This barrier is all that separates you from a quick death." She threatens.

"Why is it that you are the only one still awake?" Barkley asks this fundamental question to her, to get her to think about something else apart from him dying in horrible and painful ways. Barkley can't contain the answer.

"It's because I want to personally tell you privately of how heartbroken I felt that you didn't take me up on my offer, we could have been so good together again." Barkley comments.

Expletives are hurled Barkley's way in unrelenting waves of passionate fury. He expected this to happen but not as badly as this so he gives up on a little mental speech he had planned and instead shuts the connection and instructs the driver to drive out of this remote part of France. There is no room to do a safe U turn so the driver is forced to reverse the whole length of the path before meeting up with the main road. He can see the agents walking along the path illuminated by the headlamps, on the way back to their makeshift HQ by the side of the road. Once they meet up with the road, which has been temporarily blocked off, they turn around and make their way for the start of a long trip.

Beside the road however, Alex walks inside the normal police car, now fully visible, that they are to be transported in. The agent who escorted him shuts the door after him before telling the driver something that shocks him as much as he did. The driver whispers the same thing to the passenger of the police car who appears less shocked and more intrigued as he looks back at Alex.

"We don't have to whisper." The weasel says to the driver. Of course he wanted to see his many years of intelligence gathering and searching come to fruition even if he had been rudely dispatched of by Barkley, he was a bit surprised that he was allowed on this mission but he did get the job because he is willing to go the extra thousand miles. That extra drive to do this most hated job amongst agents had got him out of that cell in Paris and on a trip to Northern France in the middle of the night. Barkley personally thought that if he is really that desperate to do something in this mission; he can do the intelligence equivalent of scooping the crud.

"Can I have some of your fur, one hair will do." He asks of Alex. Alex looks puzzled at this strange request.

"Just brush yourself down like this and pass me one hair, but I'll take more." The weasel says happily. Alex does rub his right hand quickly along his left arm and manages to get a few strands of fur that he passes to the weasel who places them in a sealed plastic bag.

"So, where are we going?" The weasel asks to the kids, of course he will provide the answer. "We are going to try something different with you two kids. By we, I mean me. What normally happens to children like you is that they are placed into an orphanage and expected to continue with their lives as if nothing happened. But I think that orphanages aren't the best thing that can happen for you, your father came from one and look what is happening now. Your mother is a different story but I want…"

"You know what happened to my mother when she was a kid?" Alex asks in disbelief. "She never says anything about it."

"Really?" The weasel feigns surprise, trying to play along with the situation as much as possible. "Well, I don't have the exact details with me…"

"Can you tell us? Please." Alex asks, too curious to realise that he is asking the same agent which, roughly 24 hours ago, threatened Sly Cooper with his capture. For this reason, kids can be sometimes harder to deal with than criminals. They don't necessary understand the perspective of the situation surrounding them.

"From what I remember, her parents were killed brutally by a Mexican drug cartel." The weasel starts. He checks on them just to make sure it's not upsetting them, which it's not, he just doesn't exactly know how to handle kids.

"And she was upset or something like that and then decided that she wanted to work in the police to get back at the cartels in her homeland. But she moved here after she got a reputation back home and more attempts on her life started to happen." He explains. "Then she worked for the same organisation I work for, for many years then something happened that lead to you two sitting in the back and me being the one explaining this to you."

"Is that enough?" He asks back to the children. Erin is intrigued, Alex is asleep.

"Look at him, doesn't have the decency to listen." The weasel jokes.

"So, what's going to happen to us?" Erin asks.

"Oh yes, back to that. Okay, I want you to go and live with someone who will be a good role model for you, someone who can prevent you from being in the back of a police van. So, thanks to me you will go to the top of the adoption list and you'll get someone good in zero time. Is that all?" The weasel asks.

"Um, why are you doing this?" Erin asks. "Why be so interested in us?"

"Because I want to do my part and if I can prevent two future criminals from happening then I will do it." The weasel says candidly. He then considers their background.

"The children of a rogue Interpol agent and a master thief, it's practically in your blood." He mutters to himself

It is Mr. Weasel. In ways you will never fully understand.


	34. The Last of Us

**Chapter 33 – The Last of Us**

**Santiago, Chile. 10:34pm local time, 29****th**** April 2022.**

500 metres to sea level, 26 metres off the runway. Oblivious to everything that has happened over the Atlantic Ocean, Murray aims the wheels of the massive plane towards the runway. The nitrogen filled tyres get closer and closer until they rapidly spin up to 200km/h as they progressively take the full weight of the plane. They touch the ground so smoothly it's like they were still in the air but the violent procedure of slowing down is anything but smooth.

"This is your captain speaking." Murray indicates over the speakers to the passengers. "We've just landed as you might be able to tell so it won't be long until you can sleep in your hotel rooms. It's still 25 degrees Celsius outside which translates to 'it's too hot' in English and 77 degrees Fahrenheit and 'C'est trop chaud' in French. We'll be parked at the gate soon but what you want to know is how long it is until I turn off the seatbelt sign so you can jump out and get your stuff out of the overhead locker, which may have shifted in flight. So thanks for choosing us to fly here and yeah, enjoy."

Penelope feels like she has been woken up too early as she sits in her flat bed in first, ready to leave the plane. Her status is the envy of everyone on board, having the privilege to get all of the best in in-flight offerings whilst the majority suffer at a 34-degree seat angle. But for all of the frills, it's not to her taste. When they offered her a choice of 3 different champagnes before flying, she declined all of them, instead opting for water. And as for the choice of things to watch on the screen in front, no movies or TV shows have been touched at all as she went straight for any documentary that was there, it's the only thing that's vaguely mentally simulating for her. Sometimes she wished she was up in the cockpit with Murray, flying the plane. But her love of flying planes doesn't extend as greatly to giant commercial airliners as they are not agile or small, but the power of these jets is something she can't get enough of. She thinks that maybe she should invest in a fighter jet after this is finished, to get the best of both worlds.

Since she is in first, she gets the privilege of leaving first, what a coincidence. She leaves the cabin quickly as she has no hand luggage, the first one in first as many off the passengers rich enough to afford this class have made use of all the benefits available. She walks out casually down the gangway towards the terminal, feeling relaxed but what's on her mind is how the next part of the journey will be completed. When she arrives at the entrance to the terminal, 2 security officers come from the side and block her path in front of all of the onlookers waiting for the next flight from this gate.

"You have to come with us." The officer states, putting her hand on her shoulder to help her along but she is having none of it.

"Who sent you?" She asks irately.

"Come with us." He says again.

"I demand to know!" She says, gaining attention from all of those who have nothing better to do than watch this quarrel.

"Quiet down." He says, becoming more assertive and aggressive as he tries to get control of his target.

"Not until you tell me what I've done wrong and who sent you." She replies back with the same tone to match the officers. At this point they decide to act and try to slip a pair of handcuffs around her but she wriggles free of them and advances a few metres further into the terminal, the officers staring her down.

"Why am I under arrest?" She asks, now this has got the attention of everyone in the vicinity and she knows it, but she acts as if they are the only ones in the airport. The security guards advance on her as well but she has an entire airport to back into. The slow backing away of Penelope turns into a run when she sees them try to do the same, the mouse runs much faster than the guards who know that they won't catch her and also have another person to arrest. Penelope continues to run until she is out of sight, just before she gets to the immigration desk which means that she stroll calmly towards the empty row of desks that are bracing for an influx of passengers, she is the first. Penelope goes straight to the counter and shows her recently made passport to the official. It's all clear on that end and she passes through to the baggage hall, perhaps the most important part of negotiating the airport.

She stands beside the empty carousel for the conveyor to kick into motion. All the while thinking that someone else is going to come after her in this open space. She keeps looking around but in the end she is caught up by the other passengers on her flight who saw none of what she did. The full amount of passengers arrive and wait a further five minutes for the belt to finally move, which is met by sarcastic and tired applause by some of the more cynical passengers. Penelope's cases come out in the first group with orange priority tags attached to them. She grabs them with one in each hand and makes her way past all of the passengers who wait like vultures for their cases. All of these actions are watched by one tired Interpol agent who wonders how he would get her back across an ocean.

He makes sure to stay out of her direct line of sight by mixing in with the crowd as she looks around for something from his position. He doesn't know possibly who it could be, he has no information to help him. So he decides to give a trans continental call a try. The dialing takes a long time as he watches Penelope look around for someone.

"Hello?" The weasel says.

"It's me." David says, his accent sticks out in this crowd like a sore thumb.

"You've landed?" The weasel asks.

"Yes, See's collected the cases and is now looking for someone who I don't know. Do you have that binder with you?" David asks.

"Not with me but exciting news whilst you were in the air happened." The weasel tempts.

"You haven't." David says in disbelief.

"We've got him!" The weasel says in ecstasy, as if a great weight has lifted off his shoulders.

David can't believe it, he has been lead away from the fruits of their labour.

"And you know, I'm just here in sweltering heat watching someone look around frantically for someone like she's got no clue." David rebuffs.

"Your part is important, everyone is important in the grand scheme of things. You've still got to recover the painting." The weasel encourages, but he's putting on a mask to cover up his own unceremonious dumbing.

"Yeah I'd like to say I agree with you but I wanted to be there, how did it happen?" He asks as he sees Penelope go outside of the terminal to continue looking.

"I got demoted." The weasel says, as if he can't contain it any longer.

"Well I don't agree with your previous statement then if that happened." David says.

"I'm lucky to even be there." The weasel says frankly. "We weren't the one's in control the entire time, we were just some puppets that dangled from old worn down strings whilst our superiors controlled us with finely carved oak marionettes. Their plans overtook ours just when we were ready, as if they were waiting for us to be ready only to snatch the opportunity away from us."

"That's harsh, really harsh." David replies back in disgust.

"But the end product is the same so it doesn't really matter, does it? I mean we weren't going to get any credit anyway. We weren't going to be lauded as heroes in the press." The weasel says, trying to make it all seem insignificant.

"I guess so." He replies as Penelope comes back inside the airport with a worried expression on her face. "Well, I wanted to ask who this mouse is travelling with because she's still wandering around like a headless chicken."

"It's probably that hippo, might have even flown the plane himself." The weasel answers. David can't believe he didn't think of it himself.

"Thank you." He exclaims in relief that he knows who it must be now. "Probably doing a pilot's debriefing or something."

"Yeah, well, bye." The weasel says before hanging up the phone.

David watches as the mouse still looks worried, he thinks that this is the time to step in and make contact. He moves out of the crowd watching the carousel go around and around and moves towards Penelope who notices him approaching her.

"Excuse me miss, are you okay?" He asks politely

"I'm fine." She says, deflecting any interest in a conversation.

"Anything I can help you with?" He asks.

"No I'm fine." She says, becoming agitated at all of these questions.

"No you're not." David counters. "You look worried sick."

"Can you please leave me alone?" She asks.

"Not until I help you out." David insists.

"Get away from me." Penelope replies, backing away from David towards the exit of the arrivals area with the two cases in hand.

David continues to pursue her but discretely, making sure he is not seen. Penelope meanwhile looks around for Murray on the off chance that he is securing transportation for the next leg of their journey. Even at night, the taxis wait in a long line for a steady stream of passengers to be taken to their hotels or business meetings. She is about to walk inside when something extraordinary is heard, a great crash of metal. This sound is followed by a loud roar of a very large engine that's coming her way.

"Not this way." Penelope says. She hoped it would be a quiet and interruption free journey for the rest of the time. She sees the huge petrol tanker advance her way as the tyres screech around the corner and stop in front of her. She sees Murray inside and instantly knows to get inside; it's not the time to be picky. She passes up the cases to the cabin before she climbs up herself and shuts the door, all while the badger takes some discrete photos on his phone. The tanker accelerates as fast at it can, which is not impressively fast, towards the exit of the airport, the only road in and out. David meanwhile hops into the nearest taxi.

"Rapido!" He shouts, pointing towards the speeding tanker making the left hand turn away from the terminal. The driver is a bout to pull out but three police cars prevent him from doing so as they chase after the stolen tanker.

Up ahead, Murray is having the time of his life, more excitement than he has had in years.

"Are you sure you had to do that?" Penelope asks as she looks in the wing mirror and spots many police cars catching up.

"I don't know how, but they caught me then I panicked and now they're not moving so I had to get out fast." Murray explains. "But this is great!"

"Is this truck empty?" Penelope asks.

"Yeah, A full one is slower." Murray says. As they try to speed along the arrow straight section of highway with sirens wailing louder and louder as they get closer.

"But not fast enough." Penelope notes as they come almost side by side to the tanker. But Murray turns the tanker to the right, blocking the car off and almost sandwiching it in the process. This means that another police car on the other side has time to come up alongside the tanker with the passenger brandishing a shotgun to shoot the tyres out. But as he is about to shoot, the tanker swings back to the left and they have to back off. So they aim for the rear tyres from behind whilst Murray steers the tanker in front of the traffic, using them as cover. It give Murray enough time to head for the first exit off of the highway around a huge circular right hand bend that connects to another highway. The police cars are forced to move into single file along the bend but it means they have a chance to open fire. Penelope sees them attempt this tactic.

"Drive closer to the inside barrier." Penelope points out. "They won't be able to shoot the tyres out." But it doesn't stop the police form trying. A blast echoes through the night as the sound of the concrete barrier being pelted with tiny metal balls echoes not long after the bang of the shot. But the slowness of the turn allows the lead car to make it directly behind the truck and into Murray's blind spot.

"Ram them!" Penelope shouts and Murray slams on the brakes to send the lead car into the back of the tanker, throwing the shotgun out of the passenger's hands. Murray takes off again along the down hill turn as the other police cars try to make their way around the stricken lead police car. It gives them a short amount of time to plan the next move.

"Head west." Penelope instructs. "To the coast."

Murray turns the tanker around the bend at an excruciatingly slow speed that means that once the remaining two police cars make it around the totalled car, they are still in sight. It takes less than a minute for the remaining cars to catch up again and resume their assault.

"We have to stop and change vehicles, this isn't fast enough to outrun the police." Penelope says.

"Yeah, but with the Murray at the helm, we are…"

A shotgun blast rips through the air followed by a slight drop to the ground and the sound of metal grinding on tarmac takes over. The left rear tyres have been shot out.

"…possibly not as unstoppable as I thought 5 seconds ago." Murray completes as his over confidence and complacency has been exposed.

"But it's like a jet plane, you don't need all the wheels in order to keep going." Murray theorises. Penelope thinks otherwise considering the next ones are going to be shot out in quick succession until he stops. The other side of rear tyres are shot also, leaving the trailer with no control as it fishtails violently behind with Murray trying to wrestle it under control. The swinging back and forth of the trailer grows in size like trying to go higher and higher on a swing, except sideways with a trailer. Murray turns the wheel in each direction to counter it but as they go up a slight incline, the truck struggles to lift it's payload. The two remaining police cars get along side easily and shout at them with mega phones.

"Detener el camion!" One shouts. But Murray still tries to ram the police car, even though it would consume much of their precious momentum. The police car tries to brake but the swinging trailer sideswipes the car, putting a large dent in the side of the car and buckling the front axle, making it immobile. One car left, but the tanker is barley moving at any real speed. This allows the taxi holding the badger to finally catch up but the taxi stays behind the trailer so it doesn't end up like the other police cars. Another loud bang rings out as more tires on the truck are shot out, leaving only the left front tyres inflated. This makes the truck swing back towards the right as sparks light up the night from almost all of the exposed rims.

Watching from the driver seat, the taxi driver wasn't the most complicit, the badger receives a phone call on his mobile phone as he waits for this pursuit to inevitably end.

"Hello" David greets whoever is on the other side.

"I understand that you are the one casing the two remaining suspects." Barkley says.

"And they have the Mona Lisa." David adds.

"Oh good, even better. Wherever they are going is not on any map so Chile is not their final destination. In any case, they must not leave the country and be on the plane back to Paris within the next 4 hours." Barkley instructs.

"It won't take more than 5 minutes sir." David answers.

"Don't be so sure, I don't care if they are handcuffed, tied to a chair inside a bank vault on the plane right now. It won't be that easy." Barkley insists, but he pauses for a second, realising he could make the most of the contents of the back of the police van before they rot.

"David, I want you to meet the product of all of our efforts." Barkley says before his voice moves away from the phone to address one of the occupants. "Mr. Cooper."

No answer. Everyone is on the metal floor sleeping.

"Mr. Cooper!" Barkley shouts into the back of the van. "Answer me or you'll never see your children!"

"I'm up." Sly says after waking up from a forced sleep where he was not asleep and yet not fully awake. Fear coarses through his body as if he had just lived another nightmare.

"Come here, I want you to meet one of our agents who is about to round up the last of your little gang. David, this is Mr. Cooper." Barkley introduces.

"Well, what a pleasure it is to meet you." David says, putting a forced happiness on to be sarcastic.

"And top o' the evenin' to you." Sly says with a cockney accent to copy David.

"Enough! Now, in the next few minutes your two remaining pals are going to be confronted by my agent. What I want Mr. Cooper to do is convince them to hand themselves over so this can be all over with." Barkley says to the two of them.

"But that catch is you're going to threaten the future of my children to make me do it." Sly figures out for himself.

"Precisely, hit you where it hurts most, right in the childhood." Barkley replies.

"Go on, try and make my life worse than it is right now." Sly taunts him; it is the sound of a desperate man coming from Sly's throat.

"Okay, currently they are being held by one of my top agents whilst they try and find a foster home for them. With one phone call, let's just say that won't happen." Barkley counters.

Sly weighs up the options and knows he has no choice, it shows all over his face.

"You care so much for your children that you'll do anything for them, if anything about you, I admire that." Barkley says. "What's your status David?"

"They've basically stopped, the trucks lost all of it's tyres." David notes, watching as the tanker moves at a crawl as it tries to get some traction on the road and inevitably fails as more sparks are kicked up as the steel rims get grinded down further. The one remaining police car has stopped as it's occupants are now running up to the cabin. David decides he shouts do the same, so he pulls out from behind this mess and tries to go up the right hand side of the road to get near to the truck. But the truck stops it's running and stops right there along with the taxi as David gets out of the car to close down the escapees. But the truck's door opens up and Penelope leaps straight onto the badger to get him to the ground so she can take the taxi, but David sticks his arms out to push her away.

"You!" Penelope shouts, as she looks for away inside the taxi's driver's seat. David gets his phone out to message his boss.

"I've got her." He says, knowing that he is vulnerable in this position.

"Cooper!" Barkley shouts as he presses the phone on the grate so Sly can speak. David puts the phone on speaker so Penelope can hear.

"Listen to me, you have to give up now, they've got us all imprisoned and if you don't they're going to go after my kids." Sly hurriedly pleas. Penelope is taken back, she didn't expect him to be on the phone. But she immediately dismisses it, assuming that he hasn't been caught yet.

"That's a recording!" Penelope accuses the badger.

"It's not! Please just do it!" Sly shouts in desperation.

"Sly, whatever they're doing, they're bluffing, don't bend over for them." Penelope counters, trying to change his mind.

"I can't take that risk." Sly argues.

"Let me talk to whoever's holding you and I'll make a deal." Penelope pleas.

"Speaking." Barkley says into the phone.

"I'll give you the Mona Lisa if you let us go." Penelope tries to bargain.

"I'm afraid you all come as a package deal so no deal." Barkley says as he turns the microphone off temporarily. "Try a bit harder, your kid's futures are your motivation."

"…from her." Murray completes on the other side of the line. Having dealt with the remaining police he is ready to dispatch with this final obstacle, with a shotgun. Sly realises that this could be bad only from those two words.

"Murray!" Sly shouts. "Stop!" But the phone David is holding is too far away so he doesn't hear it. David is forced to retract the phone as he puts his hands behind his head, but he leaves the phone call running.

"Get the stuff Penelope while I deal with this sucker." Murray instructs. Penelope slowly moves her way around the potential death zone and moves towards the trucks cabin to grab the two cases.

"And here I am, facing death with a shotgun pointed to my chest." David says out loud. It's a clever tactic to let Barkley know what he is going through.

"I know what gun is pointed at your chest and if you move…" Murray begins to threaten but he is cut off.

"Murray!" Sly shouts into the phone behind David's head.

"Sly? Are you wearing a badger disguise?" Murray asks the badger. David slowly moves his hands away from behind his head to reveal the source of the voice.

"No! No! You have to trust me when I say you have to let him take you back to France." Sly pleas.

"The Sly I know never gives up." Murray announces.

"Well, maybe you don't know me." Sly counters.

"Ask me anything and I'll answer it." Murray challenges, brimming with confidence.

"No Murray, I'm ending it all for my kid's future." Sly explains.

"Your kids? What about you?" Murray asks.

"I'll be okay so long as they're okay." Sly confirms. "Now, just back down and go quietly. For me."

After a pause, Murray finally stands down.

"Okay buddy, for you." Murray repeats. Penelope has just gotten the second case from the cabin of the truck. She hears all of what happens.

"I hope you have a plan." Penelope says.

"I don't, it's over." Sly says. With that remark, David feels safer now that the shotgun is on the ground and underneath the truck.

"Okay you two, in the car and we can all get back to where we want to be." David instructs tiredly.

David gets himself in the front of the taxi whilst Penelope gets the cases in the boot before she gets in last next to Murray in the back seat.

"They're in." David says to Barkley.

"Good work, but you have to thank Mr. Cooper for that wonderful performance." Barkley insists.

"Thank you." David says before the phone is hung up by Barkley. There is an eerie silence in the car as they head back towards the airport, they drive back along the highway and in no time the airport is in sight again. But inside Penelope's head, she is thinking of a way out of this, a way to save everyone from this mess and perhaps get Sly out of his self pitying rut. Because if Sly has given up, at least there is one Cooper who hasn't, no matter how tiny a fraction of it she may be. It all has to start somewhere, and preferably before they reach the airport. Quickly, she wraps her arms around David's unsuspecting neck an attempt to strangle him.

"Knock him out!" She shouts to Murray, who quickly reaches out with a fist to send the badger to sleep before he can react. Penelope takes off her seatbelt and climbs across into the front seat and grabs the wheel from the passenger seat.

"Murray, move the body." Penelope instructs. The hippo takes hold of the badger and places him in the back seat where Penelope was sitting before, the mouse climbs into the driving seat and brings the taxi back into line.

"Get the phone out from him." Penelope instructs, slowing down the vehicle so they have more time before they get to the airport. Murray searches for him and finds the phone inside his jacket pocket.

"Get Barkley's phone number off the phone." She asks.

"It has a password." Murray says.

"What type is it?" She asks.

"It's a box of dots where you have to make a pattern with your finger." Murray answers.

"Okay." Penelope replies before turning the passenger rear light on. "Angle the phone against the light so you can see the smudge marks on the screen. That's what the password is."

"Got it." Murray answers as he looks at the phone's screen on an angle like she said. The key reveals itself under the correct light and Murray's fat fingers contort to make sure he doesn't accidentally select the wrong circle. He gains access to the phone and looks for contacts; Murray isn't physiologically suited to using a touch screen phone. Penelope goes into one of the sprawling car parks nearby to the airport so she can look at it herself. Once they stop on one of the many available spots she gets Murray to pass the phone over to her. All of the contacts fit onto one page, all of them are his team members, one of which gets Penelope's attention. It's the weasel who shocked her repeatedly with a Taser and first lured her away so cruelly, but Barkley's contact is not saved so she looks in 'recent' and finds it there. She doesn't know what she will do with it yet, because sending some sort of threat now will only mean that David has been taken over in someway and therefore bring some sort of punishment to Sly and his gang for what they have done, as well as attracting attention to themselves.

Penelope continues to go through the phone quickly to see what else he has on the phone; some games but not many, a few tiny little extra utilities that don't have much significance but there is one that stands out. It's one of the games called 'Bug', with a cover that has the outline of a fly on a black insert as if it was cut from a steel sheet with plasma. She opens it, knowing what's probably behind it, and simply finds a list of recordings and places where the bug is at the moment, right now, it's less than a metre away from the source. She moves the phone away from herself and looks at the GPS position now, it moves the same distance she moved the phone.

"I've been bugged?" Penelope asks herself as she looks for it. She brushes over herself with her hands to hopefully displace the bug from her so she can destroy it. She checks the phone again and sees that the signal is still strong. She then pats down her pants all the way down to her ankles and sees that the signal is gone. She didn't even feel it or see what it looked like, but at least it's gone now. She then goes and access the internet on the phone with Murray just staring at her fingers moving so fast along the touch screen in one coordinated dance across the glass. It reminds him of how fast Sly's fingers were when he would go into people's pockets to get keys. Keys that could unlock doors for many possibilities, the only one in his head being that they will save everyone somehow.

"Murray?"

It would be simple, clear-cut show of brute force as they entered the prisons walls, guards would fall of their knees even before his fists had connected.

"Murray!"

It would take less than 5 minutes tops to get everyone out and into the van.

"Are you there?"

The van, where was that beautiful machine?

"Murray!" Penelope repeats. It gets Murray a short way out of his daydreaming at night.

"I need the van!" Murray blurts out.

"Snap out of it, we need a helicopter not a van to get to the island. We have around 8 and a half hours to get to the island and be back here to get on the next plane to Paris so they don't suspect we've gone AWOL." Penelope instructs.

"A helicopter won't go the distance, we need a plane." Murray points out.

"A sea plane, we land it at the shore put the painting away and head straight back out. But we need a helicopter to get to the sea." Penelope explains.

"Or we could drive." Murray adds, they are in a vehicle right now.

"Okay but fast, and not too fast that we get caught." Penelope concedes, getting out of the car so that they can swap some things around.

"Help me swap the body and the cases around." Penelope asks as she opens the boot lid to get the two cases out of the boot. Murray grabs the body and drops it unceremoniously in the boot before he shuts it. Penelope puts the cases in the back seat with her and Murray goes in the front to drive.

"Head west, to the shore." Penelope instructs as they begin their journey.


	35. Separated but Together

**Chapter 34 – Separated but Together **

**Calais, France. 6:23am, 30****th**** April 2022**

Where was this place?

He was in a bed, that was for sure as he was warm underneath the sheets, but how he got there was a mystery. Alex gets up to see what is around him in this room, he finds his sister sleeping in another single bed next to him. He needs to know more, so he gets out of bed quietly to look around. It's another time for him to practice sneaking around on the carpet. He goes around and sees two black cases next to Erin's bed and the wall, before where a curtain covered window give the only available light in this room at the moment. Now his attention is turned to what is outside the door, he sneaks up on the door handle and pulls it slowly, to see if it is locked, which it is. So Alex goes around to look for something that he can use to unlock the door.

"Don't do that." Erin says, not directly to Alex but she is still lying with her eyes closed in bed, listening to what Alex is doing. Alex is caught off guard.

"Do you know who is on the other side of that door?" She asks, now sitting up slowly against the bed head.

"Ummmm." Alex thinks.

"It's the agent who talked to us last night." Erin answers.

"Was it? I was too tired to notice." Alex says as he yawns. "Wait, where are we then and why does he have us?"

"I don't know." She replies reflectively. "It's their job I guess."

"But what going to happen? Are we going to an orphanage like dad?" Alex asks.

"I don't have the answers Alex, I'm in the same room as you at the same time with the same police agent behind the same locked door." Erin replies.

Alex moves over to the window to see where they are and to look outside. The sun is barely up as he sees the large body of water in front of him with only a small strip of land separating the motel and the beach with the water rolling in on the slopped sand.

"We're next to the beach." Alex comments as he draws back the curtain.

"See anything else?" Erin asks as she rolls over to face Alex.

"Uh, water, sand, a road, some cars, ships, sky, the sun." Alex lists.

"Let me look." She says, getting up from the bed with the same clothes on she had on before, same as Alex. She peers through the window out to sea.

"We're in Calais, still in France." She deduces.

"How?" Alex asks.

"See that white ship there." She points out. "It's going across the channel to England."

"How do you know that?" Alex asks in amazement.

"A book." She answers, moving away from the window and climbing onto the bed.

"Well, what do we do now?" Alex asks.

"We wait until he gets up and explains to us what's going on." Erin explains.

"Shouldn't we escape or something?" Alex asks.

"No, don't try anything. Besides, we're three stories up, you won't survive the fall." Erin explains.

"We have to get out of the room at least." Alex says.

"Just be patient and wait." Erin says.

"I can't wait." Alex counters.

"Go back to sleep." Erin asks.

"I'm too awake." Alex argues.

"I don't know, go find something in the closet or drawers to keep you busy." Erin offers. Alex does that and opens every door to the closet, nothing but empty coat hangers and empty drawers in reach but what he does see at the very top are some board games. When they were isolated in Sweden, board games were something they played a lot when it was too cold to go outside. It was something that brought them together for some family fun, something they will never have unless they have families of their own. So in order to reach up to the top shelf, Alex jumps up to reach the chrome finished bar that holds up the coat hangers with both hands before reaching out with one arm for the edge of the top shelf. He grabs on and holds himself as he brings his other hand across so he is being supported by the shelf that is 2 metres off the ground. Erin is just watching from her bed, hoping that he succeeds in getting there. But if he fell it would be a bit funny.

"These ones are really old." Alex says as he looks for something he can play.

The door begins to unlock and Alex let's go of the shelf and lands back on the ground just as the weasel checks on them.

"Can you stop with all the banging please?" He asks tiredly wearing only a pair of pale green boxers, he has being awoken by the sound of loud thunks on metal and wood coming from the bedroom which he selflessly gave up for them, he had to sleep on the couch.

"Sorry." Alex apologises.

"Don't be, I had to get up anyway." The weasel apologises.

"When do we find out who we live with?" Erin asks. The weasel grabs his mobile phone out to check for incoming messages.

"Whenever I am told that someone is able and ready." The weasel answers. "So not right now.

"But when?" Alex asks.

"I don't know." The weasel answers slightly pissed off that this question had to be asked. However he tells himself to calm down his temper in front of the children, if the goal here is to set the right example, it starts with him.

"So um, what do you usually do in a day?" The weasel asks them. His specific job is to be their guardian either until someone is found to take them in or after 48 hours have elapsed in which case they will be put in an orphanage. No agent likes to do this, kids are difficult as they are always oblivious to the mechanisms working around them. But he wanted to see his work pay off and have a direct contribution rather than just intelligence gathering. Because intelligence is nothing without someone interpreting it and making it useful, here he can make what little intelligence he has on the Cooper children useful. In the back of his mind he is doing some gathering right now, learning their expressions and mannerisms.

Alex turns towards his sister for the answer, anything that he says might reveal too much about them. He has more faith in his sister's answer than his own.

"I don't know, it's different everyday. Sometimes we play outside and sometimes we stay inside and do other things." Erin answers.

"Like what? We can go to the beach, it's right there." The weasel offers.

"I've never seen or been to one before." Alex says.

"We'll do that then." The weasel concurs. He just wants them to play and be independent so he can have his space and do his work in getting the kids off his back quickly so he can get back to Paris to finally begin a new case if Barkley allows him back into Interpol or so he can face his impending court trial before beginning a new life.

"But can we eat something first?" Alex asks.

"Fine." The weasel agrees. "We'll go out when I'm ready, you two seem ready." He says, noting them being in the same clothes that they had on last night as he carried Alex up to the bedroom and put him in bed while the driver carried Erin. The driver of the police car had disappeared into the night after that, along with the car.

"Just stay in there while I get ready, okay?" The weasel asks.

"Okay." Erin answers. The weasel looks straight into the eyes of Alex to extract an answer from him.

"Okay." He replies as he climbs back onto bed and lies flat face up, staring at the ceiling. From her they can hear the sound of a door opening and closing before the sound of running water begins to fill the room. A seagull squawks outside as a pack of them fly by the window looking for morning scraps. Then there is a growing sound coming from the bathroom, singing in the shower. Alex and Erin become confused at it, it seems completely out of character for a police agent to be doing this. None of them know what song it is but he is singing it with passion. They wonder if he knows that they can hear it, maybe he's just not as self conscious as they are or maybe he just doesn't care. He stays in there for at least 10 minutes, but they don't know exactly as there is no clock to look at. The two young raccoons stay silent and continue to listen to the sounds of the world whilst being half asleep.

"Are you two coming?" He asks, now fully clothed.


	36. From the Inside, Out

**Chapter 35 – From the Inside, Out.**

**Near Dortmund, Germany. 7:01am 30****th**** April.**

Not this place, Sly thinks to himself.

If there was one prison that he didn't want to be put in, it was this one. Not only because it was one of the most secure, but because of the people inside it. What made it even worse for him is that he was alone, the rest of them had all been separated from him. Not even his love was there, he did not know where she was, but he missed her deeply.

If Barkley knew what the difference of being cruel was, he had obviously overstepped it. He didn't care what prison he would be in so long as they were together. But since they were not, it was a pool of despair that Sly was drowning in as he was thrown inside a heavily secure cell where he would remain for 23 hours a day, leaving one hour for exercise. He thinks it's all he needs to escape. But the doors here are different to the one's he was expecting, the doors contain neither steel nor any type of metal. The doors are clear, made from some thick and tough polycarbonate with the other 7 faces of the cell being concrete cinderblock. As Sly saw his new world from the inside of a cell, he figured out why they did it. Every cell was open, every cell wasn't private and locked away from view. No one could be alone in this place, whether that was a good thing depended on one's alliances in this prison. Sly wants to be hidden, but yet again they don't want him to. What's worse is the realisation he had figured too late to act upon. His kids weren't ever going to see him again, they were being taken away to an orphanage he thinks. The cycle will start again as he fades into obscurity.

What's almost as worse is the wing he is in, it's like it was tailor made to give him hell for the rest of his life. Most of the people he indirectly put in jail are now his cellmates, what they will do to him when they are let out of their cells for that one hour is a topic that he is certain to know the answer to. Many lost years of sweet freedom he has cost each one of them, now it's going to be payback time.

"If it isn't my favourite raccoon who put me in here too soon." The Grizz says to him from the cell opposite Sly who can see him slumped on his bed, not looking at him in his orange jumpsuit.

"What? You know other raccoons who put you in jail?" Raleigh replies in the same sarcastic tone from two cell to the left of Sly.

"Yeah, it's crazy and they all look exactly like him." The Grizz says, looking at Sly.

"I can't see him, describe it for me." Raleigh replies.

"Like grey with black stripes." The Grizz begins.

"How do you know it's not black with grey stripes?" Raleigh counters.

"Yeah, I mean, it does look like that from where I see it." Muggshot replies from his oversized cell to the left of Grizz.

"He's not grey on black, he's black on grey. He's not a zebra I say." The Grizz retorts before something to the right of him catches his eye.

"Hey what are you doing? Get off him." The Grizz says to the guards who drag Raleigh from his current cell over to the left of The Grizz's cell as the occupant of that cell is swapped into Raleigh's former cell seemingly at a whim.

"Now why do you do that?" The bear mutters to himself.

"Maybe they decided for me that I don't have to see your paintings anymore." Raleigh says.

"No way, my work of art is art and I made that clear from the start. Art is in the eye of the beholder, that's what I've told ya." The Grizz replies.

"Fine whatever you desire, now all I have to look at of interest is him." Raleigh states.

"You can all look at this." Another inmate says as he pulls his pants down to go to the toilet. They all turn away in disgust, it's a problem having to see everyone do everything in front of them. At least it's only the front that's clear.

"That is rude and abhorrent." Raleigh states in disgust.

They all look back at Sly to make sure they don't have to look at anything else. Besides, they can analyse their new toy before they get to play with it for the first time. He looks noticeably dejected and flat, as if he has not drive to reason to be anymore. As he lies on his bed, Sly is motionless as he just stares at the ceiling and thinks through how he got here and what he has done to get here. Would death be a better alternate to prison? But what is life without choice, freedom? No different to death.

**The Alps, 50km south of Innsbruck, Austria.**

Not this place, Carmelita thinks to herself.

If there was one prison that she didn't want to be put in, it was this one. Not only because it was one of the most secure, but because of the people inside it. What made it even worse for her is that she was alone, the rest of them had all been separated from her. Not even her love was there, she did not know where he was, but she missed him deeply.

The constant freezing temperatures at this altitude are not to her liking given her background. Who's great idea was it to build a prison in an mountain? Someone who thought that those who had an ability to escape should have the bar set much higher. There are no roads to this prison, everyone comes by helicopter. The prison is small, the official capacity is 25 but 34 are currently are squeezed in because it turns out that many people have a propensity to escape. But they have to contend with pressure sensors in the floor, the rock walls that the prison was carved out of, not to mention the vast expanse of ice and snow as well as the rocky sections at lower attitude. Escape is impossible and the operators intended to keep it that way in making sure that Sly Cooper did not come there.

But Carmelita hates it already, just the cold is bad enough but these criminals inside are ones that are the elite, the best of the best that have been thrown in prison. She wonders how many she knows from previous encounters, but that number is expected to be low considering no criminal has been captured by her in over 8 years. Still, it's frozen over in hell, her hell. As she was escorted blindfolded into the facility by 4 fully armed guards with white sub machine guns, white Kevlar vests and white clothing to blend in with the snow, the temperature slowly rises back up to the tightly controlled temperature of 15 degrees Celsius, not hot enough to keep the prisoners comfortable so they always have to suffer without having a detriment to their health. A change of one degree either way to the inner temperature triggers a lockdown. But also what she can't see are the camera, the hundreds of cameras in this tiny facility, each with their own supply of power so they can't all be cut at once. Exercise is done is done in a room in the mountain with no windows with one-way out. Escape will be impossible.

As the blindfold is removed from Carmelita's face she is confronted with the empty cell she has to live with, a stainless steel bedframe with a foam mattress on it but no sheets or pillows and a stainless steel toilet, nothing more, nothing less. There is only one LED light globe illuminating each cell but it is protected by a 5 cm thick polycarbonate casing to prevent anyone from trying to gain some electricity. But the guard don't need the lights to be on in order to see where they are. Infrared cameras are every, dually measuring the temperature of the prison but also turning everyone into a bright orange blob on the screen for easy viewing. What the first inmate she see opposite to her looks like he has been here for a while but he still appears to a have a menacing grin on his face as he watches her directly from his cell. She is the only female in this prison.

As soon as the guards are out of sight, all she can see is the huge stainless steel door that prevents her exit. It looks like it has been retro fitted directly from a walk in safe, with no way to look in or out and with no holes of any kind to be handcuffed to restrained, she has no one to look at but herself in the perfectly polished door. As she slumps on her very uncomfortable bed, she knows that this must be where the game ends, the end game. It wasn't special or extravagant, they just simply beat them with the superior equipment they possess and with sheer amount of numbers. It must be the same fate for everyone she thinks, but how they got caught and where they are is a mystery. She would give anything to know where Sly is, so that she could come after him. While escape looks impossible from this mini fortress, there's always a first time for everything.

But something changes her optimism very quickly, a muffled volley of gunshots from only a few metres away followed by a muffled scream and then a crash. She can't see what has happened, but an execution right in front of her cell as soon as she got here? It seems a bit too coincidental to her.

It's like, um, what did Bentley call it? She thinks to herself, quantum physics. I can't see what has happened, so it could be either, both at the same time.

But this is the real world, not a _gedankenexperiment, _so only one has happened. She takes the option that this is all to scare her, to make her think of how escapees are treated, with a flurry of bullets into their chest. But Carmelita becomes even more confident of an escape, simply because if they have to scare them like this, they must not have the full confidence in their systems. She begins to plan it out, with her knowledge of how the system works in prisons, she can figure out when the best time to escape is. But there is a huge thick door in front of her, it won't be coming down too soon under any natural form of force, even some explosives would struggle against the door. Escape during exercise? That's when they'd be most under watch she thinks, all in the same room.

As she thinks of escape, two guards think about removing the bloodied body which has dirtied the stainless steel cell door that has fallen to the ground in the hallway.


	37. Mind Over Mischief

**Chapter 36 – Mind over Mischief**

**Santiago International Airport, Chile. 7:57am local time. 30****th**** April 2022.**

The first part is done, the job she was originally sent out to do was completed with brutal efficiency. She went straight up to the door and used the cane to unlock the huge impenetrable door and disable the security systems, which she designed and built in part. She placed the case just inside the cave before leaving quickly again, there was no time to gaze at their impressive wealth and there still is no time now. She still has the cane, she hopes to give it to Sly after they have helped him from breaking out of prison. But now they have a flight to catch.

"3 tickets to Paris." Penelope says over the counter, donning another wig giving her short red hair.

"Just one moment." The cashier says as she inputs the details into the computer after Penelope gives them the three passports, David's she found in his inner jacket pocket who is still in the boot of the taxi parked in the main car park.

"Okay, two in 29B and C and one in 44F." She says. "Check in is closing in 20 minutes."

"Thank you." She says before walking briskly along with Murray to the check in machine. A person is no longer needed to check people in when they can be done by a machine and a touch pad at a fraction of the cost. The one item of baggage is checked as well as all three tickets, the bag tag is printed out and Penelope quickly and methodically unpeels it and places it around the ergonomic plastic grip of the case for the cane as it goes into the bowels of the airport via a conveyer belt. The two of them now move through security without complaints, they have nothing to hide. Once through the customs and security checks as they try to kill time before the flight begins to board, Penelope begins to go through the mobile phone of the agent more carefully, looking for details; any details. The phone has hardly anything on it, as if it had only been in use for less than a couple of weeks. But what she does extract and jot down onto the back of her boarding pass if the phone numbers of anyone relevant, possible agents, contacts and most importantly, Barkley. The phone doesn't need to be switched to airplane mode because; firstly because mobile phones can be used on plane and secondly because she has had it on ever since she found out she was bugged in order to prevent them from being tracked remotely.

"They've checked in sir, they'll arrive back at approximately 1630." His assistant says as he flies back to Lyon on a private jet.

"Excellent, have transport ready for them when they arrive." Barkley insists.

"Yes sir." He replies before typing away at a computer.

The jet soars above France only for the briefest of moments, landing and taking off seem to be the only two parts of this very short journey with virtually no level cruising involved. But as the plane angles back down for the landing, The chief can't help but think that while he has been relieved that this whole chase is over, the criminals separated across Europe will keep on trying to escape; the brave may be caught but cannot yield.

In the perspective of things, this case is another loose end tied up. Sly Cooper is and was yesterday's news as far as the police and Interpol are concerned for several years, there are many more important and high profile cases to deal with that demand his attention. But this is the most personal, he has had the uttermost delight in separating them into different prisons with each to their disliking. Carmelita in the cold, Sly with his old enemies and Joey… well he got something a bit different to the rest of them. Because he is just another thief according to Barkley and holds no significant grudges against him that warrant something sinister, he went to a different type of punishment still in the experimental stages.

Prison overcrowding is always a problem that is going to get worse without more prisons, but with the hopes of not having to do that and to offer a simple and yet possibly very effective alternative, they introduced this program.

"You understand the drug you are taking?" The young doctor, fresh out of university, says to his test subject. The wallaby is not restrained in any way, this is a normal office where he is on one side of a cold metal desk with a clear glass top and the doctor is on the other side.

"Yes." Joey replies.

"Side effects may include nausea, headaches, muscle cramps and hypersensitivity amongst others." The doctor warns before opening a small plastic case containing one single pill that is half white and half blue.

"I just need to swallow this and then I can go out and be free?" Joey asks to reassure himself, he has not yet seen the inevitable catch that this program has to contain but doesn't know exactly where it lies.

"Yes." The doctor calmly replies as he jots down a note on a sheet of paper with undecipherable handwriting. Joey takes the pill out of it's case with thumb and forefinger and calmly puts in in his mouth before swallowing it with a glass of water placed on the table. The doctor waits until he has swallowed before explaining the true purpose of the drug.

"The drug is not a new type of steroid, it will actually make you pathologically hate stealing things. The mere thought of such an act will bring on the aforementioned side effects. It works by interacting with the chemicals released by the brain when you experience the rush of a theft, turning them into messages similar to your body not having eaten in 20 days or having swallowed poison. This will cure your disease." Joey is shocked, could it be true? He looks at the pen the doctor used before and thinks about taking it, just see if what he said is true. Slowly, a headache ensues, not very painful but it's there. The doctor can see he is trying to bring on the drugs effects.

"Oh, I forgot to mention, the symptoms get worse each time you think about it and even worse if you do it." The doctor says just as Joey gets up slowly from the padded wooden chair, slowly rethinking his way of life and waiting for the headache to stop as he shuts the door on the small office and walks down the hospital without guards escorting him out, they have a lot of faith this drug. In fact it works not only for thieves but any criminal as the next patient, a white-collar criminal guilty of stock manipulation enters the room. The doctor messes with his head again, saying that it's a new steroid for a company and gets him to take it before indulging the secret of the drug. Of how it with make him sick and feel nauseous whenever he thinks about trading stocks illegally. He tries it out and the result is the same and he feels puzzled as he walks out of the room as to how he can be controlled like that with just one little tablet; how his, and indeed, every other person in this line comes to realise just after they swallow. The secret to such a wonder pill is readily available, not created in a lab and almost everyone has used it at some point in their lives and yet no one can touch it, no one can hold what's inside that pill as it has no physical form it can take.

They just have to believe…


	38. Life's a Beach

**Chapter 37 – Life's a Beach**

**Calais, France. 10:54am, 30****th**** April 2022.**

The beach was empty, no swell for surfers and no nice weather for people to relax on. He thought they wouldn't stay that long at this cold and frigid beach. He stayed inside the car, watching them from a distance as they ran along the beach. As time progressed, which is did by two hours, they still had the energy to run around like like no tomorrow. The only thing that stopped them was the rain that arrived gradually, starting from a spit and growing heavier by the minute that forced the kids to come running towards the car.

"Perfect timing." The weasel mutters to himself as the kids come racing for the car.

"When will it stop?" Alex asks the other two in car next to the beach.

"I don't know." The weasel says as he gets out his phone to check. "Not for a while, get your seatbelts on, we have to go."

"Where?" Alex asks again as he reaches across his shoulder for a seatbelt.

"To a doctor." The weasel answers succinctly.

"What kind of..?" Alex starts to ask.

"You ask a lot of questions. Okay, I'll tell you everything, for legal reasons we have to make sure you are not injured or mentally affected by what has happened to you two. It won't take long." The weasel answers with more detail in order to satisfy the young raccoon's desire to know and to quieten him down; he still has the energy after running around for so long. He turns the key and the windscreen wipers fling the drops of water pelting down onto the windshield in a single stroke. After the view from the inside is clear, he pulls of from the curb and into the road. The rain becomes progressively heavier as they drive the short distance through Calais, the wipers work overtime to clear the water as they pull up to a small house that's not imposing or grand, built with brick that's been weathered by the wind.

"Come on." The weasel says, getting out of the car and moving onto the sidewalk without any concern for the rain and the dryness of his clothes. The kids however do care and run without slipping on the wet tarmac towards the front porch of the house with a sign out the front listing the practising doctors at this general practice. When they open the front door, they see the inside of this converted house and where a dinning room was is now a waiting room. No features indicate that this place used to have somebody living in it, it looks like any other practise on the inside with rooms for doctors to work and a reception. Right now there are 8 chairs available and 3 of them are taken, so there is room for them to sit, although not together due to the four by two configuration. Alex and Erin uncomfortably face the weasel sitting across the room from them. It's not that the weasel is staring them down as if he expects them to bolt out of the waiting area, but this officer is a stranger to them.

The weasel checks his phone and replies to emails whilst they wait to be called in. The kids look around at this room, taking in their surroundings having not seen one before. The TV is set on the 24 hour news channel; nothing about Sly Cooper at all, just the normal set of car crashes, finance, weather and sports.

"Sir?" A male doctor says to the weasel to get his attention away from his phone and towards his eyes. The weasel points across to the kids and goes back to his phone.

"Come in." The doctor says to them, trying to be as friendly as possible. This peeves the other people waiting as they thought that they should get in before them as they had arrived earlier. Alex and Erin get off their seats and follow the doctor into his office which has no menacing medical equipment inside apart from the various medicines and tools stashed in locked cupboards.

"I have been told that something unfortunate has happened to you two and that I'm going to check if you are okay." The walrus says to them. "Any questions before I start?"

There is silence which the doctor takes to be that there are no questions to be asked, so he will ask one to them.

"Okay, who wants to go first?" He asks.

"Me." Alex says straight away, trying to appear tough and brave.

"Okay, come over here and sit on the bed." He says as he show Alex where to go, the plain medical bed, more like a high raised metal bench with a small amount of padding on it, the doctor see him climb up by himself, something most kids his age and height are unable to do. The doctor pulls a pale green curtain across the room, dividing the office in two.

"Are you hurt, do you feel any pain?" He asks.

"No."

"Do you feel okay, in your head?" He asks. Alex gives it some thought.

"I miss my parents, but I don't want anyone to know because that means I'm weak." Alex explains softly to the doctor as a tear rolls effortlessly out of the corner of his left eye

"It must be difficult for you and your sister, I presume." He says.

"You won't tell anyone, right?" Alex asks.

"I not allowed to, doctors can't tell anyone else about what happens in this room." He says, trying to explain patient confidentiality in a way a kid could understand.

"Thanks." Alex hushly replies.

"Now I have to perform a basic check up so open your mouth and say ah." The doctor says as he sticks a tongue depressor inside his mouth to keep his tongue down. The check up continues by sticking other pieces of equipment around his face; an otoscope for his ears and a stethoscope for his chest, a heartbeat slower than it normally is for his age because his physical condition. More tests are performed, they measure his height, weight and blood pressure but nothing shows any sort of illness.

"Okay, finally I need you to stick your fingers into this inkpad and place them onto this sheet of paper inside the 5 boxes." The doctor says as he places the two items onto the bed. Alex knows that fingerprints are used by police to identify suspects but they won't ever be found he thinks, wearing gloves is an easy way to get around that. Because of this, there is no hesitation for Alex as he gets a healthy amount of his on his fingers and rubs them onto the paper to give a nice and deliberately clear set of prints. Job done he thinks.

"Thank you." He says, putting the items away on the bench opposite the bed and goes into a cupboard to get some sterilised scissors. "Now I need some fur."

"But he's already got some." Alex retorts.

"It won't hurt a bit." He says reassuringly. "Hold still."

A few hairs of fur are cut and placed into a small plastic container with a complicated computerised label on the front. Alex thinks to himself that even with DNA they won't catch him in the future.

"Is that it?" Alex asks.

"Just one last thing." He says. "I just need to measure your tail volume."

"Do you think I'm going to commit a crime at some point?" Alex asks, wondering about this unnecessary procedure to the doctor who grabs a circular ring of about 30 centimetres diameter from a drawer.

"I'm just doing what I am told." He replies as he flicks the switch of the tail scanner, a tool used on those with tails mainly for genealogy and identification purposes. It creates a 3D image of a tail, or any other thing placed inside it, and gives the exact colours and density at certain layers. The doctor puts the ring around the tail from the base and slowly draws it up until it reaches the tip, the image comes up on a computer screen about 5 seconds after it is finished and shows a very accurate reproduction of his tail. Alex is surprised at it's accuracy.

"That's cool." He says, but also wary of it's possible use in forensics.

"Yep, that's what you tail looks like." He says, pointing to the screen. "Okay, that's it, I'll let your sister in now. You can wash your hands in the basin over there." He instructs as Alex gets off the bed and approaches the sink to remove the purple ink that covers his fingers. Having heard almost everything that they said, Erin walks towards the bed knowing almost everything that is going to happen once she is seated up on the bed. She was especially touched by the fact that he misses their parents, something which she does very much so as well, but she's not going to tell him that she overheard what he has said. She enters through the curtain just as Alex walks through the other side to get out.

"Do you need a stool to get up?" He asks. But he sees her jump up to the bed without assistance and knows that the answer is no.

"Okay, Are you hurt? Is there any pain?" He asks as he grabs a few of A4 paper with large typeface written on each one.

"No." She replies, puzzled to what the purpose of the papers are.

"Mentally are you okay?" He asks.

_Do ask about these papers or what is on them, read as I speak. _The first one says as he hands them over to her

"I'm fine." She replies, her eyes darting between his face and the written message.

"Okay then, I am still required to perform the necessary checks for your health." He replies back to her as he collects the instruments needed.

_I know of your father although we have never met. Just like my dad knew your grandad._

"Open your mouth and say ah." He says as he inserts the flat wooden stick into her mouth. She has to hold up the next sheet further up so she can see it.

_Help is coming for you two, just be patient. You'll always have friends to help you out._

"Now I'll check your ears." He states, grabbing the otoscope and looking into her ears.

_I am forever indebted to your grandfather. This is a small way to make up for it. _She can see him move around to the other side to check the other ear.

"Now read the chart from top to bottom." He instructs, pointing to the rows of progressively smaller letters on the eye chart attached to the white brick wall. Erin begins to list off the letters one by one from 3 metres away until there are no more to read.

"Good." He says. "Now can you put your fingers into this ink and press onto this sheet of paper. He says, placing a sheet of grid paper on top of the other sheets she placed on top of the bed. The whole time he acts as if he has made no such plans to help them out, carrying out the same checks in the same fashion he did with Alex. Some hair is cut, a tail is scanned and that is the end of it.

"You both can go now." He says with a tone that commands authority, he just wants them to leave normally, as if nothing suspicious happened. They both walk out of the door and as soon as they do, he shreds the sheets of paper quickly so no one finds out about it.

"All done?" The weasel asks, answering more emails and texts on his phone. They don't respond but nod instead.

"Okay, come on." He says as they brush past the people that have to wait some more to see a doctor. Once they are outside, he gives them some good news, both for himself and for them.

"Good news." He says gleefully, not an emotion he shows often, to them as they walk towards the car still under a barrage of rain. "I've already received 4 applications for your adoption, you'll be off to a new home in no time."

"Can we see them?" Erin asks as she gets in the car first, shuffling over to the left side before Alex goes in.

"It's not your choice who you get to go live with." He explains.

"That's not fair, you're not the one going to be living with them." Alex tries to argue.

"It's not your choice, that's the rule." He reiterates, facing forwards to focus on the task of driving.

"So unfair." Alex quietly mutters in frustration under his breath as he watches the rain pelt down from the heavens. The drive is short back to the motel accommodation they are using for the moment, and even quicker to walk up the 2 flights of stairs to the small 3 room motel. The weasel is still in the process of reading more emails as more information is posted to him about the adoption applicants. He walks straight onto the couch and lies down, continuing to read the emails as he sits down. Alex and Erin try to make a discrete peak at what he is reading on his phone but nothing makes full sense to them.

"Can you please go to your room while I work?" He asks. "Or perhaps you can sit here and watch TV while I work on this in your bedroom, your choice."

"Bedroom." Erin says confidently, thinking of the very precious cargo stored in there and the possible consequences of an Interpol agent finding their true contents. Alex looks at her to just make she is making the correct decision. She looks back to him and walks into the bedroom followed by Alex. They shut the door and go to get a board game from the top shelf, just like they wanted to before.


	39. A Quick Escape

**Chapter 38 – A Quick Escape**

**Warning: Contains torture. **

**Near Dortmund, Germany. 12:01pm, 30****th**** April 2022.**

Only 1 minute has past and Sly has cased the razor wired wall and it's defences as he is led out to the recreation area. 5 metre high chain link fences flank him on all sides with a huge tangled and infrangible barbed wire on top and that's only the first wall. Another concrete wall is spaced 8 metres away in order to make it harder to escape and to allow for a small road to go around the perimeter for security personnel to patrol. There is no visible control tower but there is an array of cameras on all angles. As for the choice of recreation activities, there's a small soccer pitch marked on the concrete floor and some bars for the hardened to do chin-ups on. Sly looks back behind him in his peripherals to check on the position of his 'acquaintances' who are most likely to go after him once they are dispersed into the area. There are no light posts for Sly to climb up or hanging ropes for him to run across and out. Ever since he was last here, some security flaws have been addressed and improved upon. The guards wait until the last inmate has gone out of the building before they return to the inside to check in their cells, this leaves the inmates under the supervision of big brother.

"Yo, yo. That's the dude right there." Sly can overhear the Grizz saying to his small posse. A group of 8 or so out of the 40 in this area he has at his fingertips and Sly knows he won't stand up to a physical fight against them, not without some sort of weapon. Sly acts cool and leans against the chain link fence, where he thinks a blind spot might be, with indifference towards his impending date with several pairs of fists.

"You ready to rock unsteady?" The Grizz says with his entourage trailing behind.

"I'm waiting right here." Sly replies back, as if he doesn't care. "But someone over there needs you."

"Where?" He asks, turning his head away from Sly like a gullible idiot, as do all the others. It's all the time he needs, in that short space of time he has gone from their sight, all of them feel the stupidity of falling for this child's trick. Everywhere they look for the raccoon but nothing resembles him in the prison recreation area. Sly rushes frantically to climb the chain link fence whilst not making a sound so that he doesn't alert the confused group below. Once he reaches the curled barbed wire, he reaches in between the razor wire loops before performing a sort of a cartwheel over the fence, landing on the other side to confront the concrete fence. With this concrete being expertly laid, there are no holes to use to climb up so he runs along the side of the road, spotting an oncoming patrol consisting of a four wheel drive vehicle with officers holding binoculars to look out for potential escapees while pistols rest in their holsters without the safety being on, just to be that bit extra prepared. Sly runs as fast as he can towards this slow moving patrol and leaps up to the side of the concrete wall on his left, taking a step before leaping up off the wall to the roof of the vehicle, this gives him enough height to jump up and grab the top of the concrete wall with his fingertips. His hands find just a tiny gap in the razor wire, the barbs almost giving him a fur cut. He brings his feet up by doing a walking motion up the wall until his feet are right next to his hands with his legs tucked in. In order to pass this barbed wire, he performs a very slow handstand, moving his legs up slowly until he can balance himself on top of the wall. Once he spots the carpark outside, he looks for a safe landing spot and pushes hard against the concrete wall to clear the razor wire and does a forward roll to stick the landing.

He is out, he sees the industrial area around him of warehouses and factories with smoke rising up towards the atmosphere. He knows he can't take one of these cars in the carpark as it will mean he has less time to run before someone finds out, so he starts to run as fast as he can towards the main road so he can find a suitable vehicle. But each step becomes heavier and harder to perform, he barely makes it fifty metres away from the prison's walls before he can no longer stand up and instead lies to the side of the road in a small ditch, passed out from the combined effects of being invisible for too long and the fact that there is a sleep dart nestled in his back that he never felt enter his body or thought someone could hit him with when they can't see him. But they did see him from the vehicle as he ran down the path in their infrared binoculars and placed the dart as he climbed up the concrete wall Guards come quickly to where they find the motionless raccoon and restrain him before carting him back into prison for some punishment.

**An unknown period of time later.**

Sly wakes up groggily, seated in a plain metal chair in a room with concrete surrounding him on all sides; although he can't see them, he can only feel the floor. He tries to move his arms but they are bound to the arms by his wrists with plastic zip ties, the same goes for his legs which are bound at the ankles to the front legs. He can't see anything in the pitch black darkness that seems to extend infinitely into the distance on all sides as he turns his head frantically to look for an exit. Sly begins to rock back and forth until he can touch the ground with his feet and begin to shuffle in some direction until he can feel a wall or some sort of boundary, but his captors seem to have positioned his feet at the height where he can't try such a feat so he falls forwards. He is forced to tuck his head in so that the top of the chair hits the ground before his head does. The sound makes a big thunk against the ground that echoes everywhere; this tells Sly that this room has to be small.

However, a very bright light is switched on just as he begins to crawl forward on his hands and feet with the chair still attached to him. It blinds him totally since his eyes are adjusted to the pitch darkness, for about 30 seconds, everything is a bright white to him until the silhouettes of 3 people come into view. 2 of them come and reset the chair into it's original position in the centre of the room whilst the other one stays in their position, watching over him.

"You thought you could try that?" He gruffly says, but it's still a blurry echo to Sly as he gathers his bearings and vision.

"Nothing? Well be that as it may…" Sly just becomes enraged as he recognises Barkley pacing slowly from side to side without so much as looking at him "…your little party trick of disappearing out of thin air is not as godly as you think. You see, your dear friend, the turtle, has been quite complicit in helping us out with a few things; and he's divulged the weaknesses in your abilities. One of them being that…" He says, bringing out a sheet of paper to read off of. "…that you're only invisible to the visible spectrum of light and not the infrared, whatever that means."

"What have you done to him?!" Sly asks, enraged by their use of Bentley for their own devices.

"Nothing, in fact, it seems he's rather enjoying his new job working for us; for now at least before he gets used by every military organisation that can afford him." Barkley explains.

"You lay your filthy paws off everyone, take me instead." Sly pleas.

"We've already got everyone, that last one's are being transported from South America and are due to arrive in less than two and a half hours." Barkley says.

"Yeah, well you won't get everyone, many people I have worked with over the years." Sly says confidently.

"Au contraire Mr. Cooper. Ms. Fox, Joey and someone called the Panda King are all in prison." Barkley lists off the sheet of paper. Sly lets a little chuckle out that grows into full blown laughter.

"You are so, so short of everyone, you'll never get everyone." Sly says in between bouts of laughter. His chair gets kicked over by one of the guards as Barkley instructed in the hope that it makes him concentrate again. It certainly snaps Sly out of it as the chair crashes into the concrete, barely missing his head from concussion.

"The guru, run over by a bus in Manhattan; Dimitri Lousteau, drowned in a canal in the Netherlands; Only Ms. Cooper and your hippopotamus friend are left and even they are trapped." Barkley explains angrily at the seemingly vulnerable raccoon. But what Sly is concerned most is that they know about Penelope's origins when she never told anyone else about it.

"It is over Cooper, it ends with you." Barkley says as he leaves him while the guards bring in a bucket of water that they throw straight at him. It's a icy as ice, below freezing but still liquid thanks to some basic science knowledge from Bentley. It tastes like sea water to Sly, ice cold sea water that has drenched his entire body and the orange jumpsuit he is wearing. As he cranes his head forwards to try and see what they are doing next, he sees them bring in another bucket of water which they slowly pour over his face as he turns his head to breathe, restricting Sly's breathing as it is poured over his mouth and eyes, making them sting painfully enough that it limits his vision. When the pour finishes, Sly gasps for air and his chest expands and contracts quickly as he gulps for air. His chair is tilted back upright so he faces the concrete door.

"You enjoying your last minutes?" Barkley asks condescendingly while Sly spits out the salty taste in his mouth.

"You're going to kill me?" Sly asks him directly, but without surprise.

"Yes, you've demonstrated to me that no matter what prison holds you, you'll just escape. So I think this is the only way to guarantee that you won't be a problem anymore." Barkley explains.

"I haven't done anything wrong in the past 8 years." Sly asserts.

"That's not why we spent all that effort and resources, you stole the most valuable and famous painting in the world." Barkley explains. "A crime many call the crime of the century, crime of the millennia even."

In Sly's mind, to even be considered in that upper echelon is rewarding, especially considering his dad was up in that level. But his dad would have never been caught and tortured like this.

"Tell you what, I'll give you one last chance to tell me the true location of the Mona Lisa and I'll spare your life." Barkley offers.

"I don't know where it is." Sly replies.

"Of course you do." Barkley says, escalating his voice. "Where is it?!"

"It doesn't matter, you'll never find it." Sly says, trying to enlighten Barkley.

"Taking it to the grave I see. Well, you brought this on yourself." Barkley begins.

"You know, I can see why Carmelita never liked you." Sly says, trying to rile Barkley up.

"Don't you speak of her!" Barkley angrily shouts back.

"It's because you are the most arrogant and self centred person in the world. I mean, she was your best agent, yet she could never become anything more whilst you were in charge. And also, to you, she was a statistic that you used to demonstrate how good you were when in fact, It wasn't you at all, you never made any where near the number of arrests she did."

"But I have the one that counts!" Barkley says, enraged. He makes a signal to the two agents to begin the process as he begins to walk out.

"And when she saw the world my way, no wonder she fell in love with me, as did I with her. She never deserved to be treated the way she did with you. I'm proud to love Carmelita Fox." Sly says, wearing it as a badge of honour.

A third bucket of water is brought in and it's placed in front of him on the wet floor, it's not a very dignified way to go in his mind, whilst also being at the lowest point of his life. The two guards come into the room as their black army boots are soiled by the stagnant water that has nowhere to drain to. They come and pick up the chair together, lifting the restrained yet untroubled Sly Cooper into the air before they tilt the chair forward until he is almost upside down, his head pointed directly at the bucket of water. Slowly, they lower his head into the bucket of water, immersing his head fully and holding him there. Sly holds his breath, he knows he can't last long in here. He does the only thing he can do and shake his head against the sides of the bucket, hoping that he can tip it over. It works as the water tips out of the bucket and further drenches the concrete, but the guards simply drop him, crunching his head against the ground painfully. With their primary method foiled somehow by the writhing raccoon, they simply choose the simple method of execution and unholster their guns and unload all of their sleeps darts into his aching body, sending him to sleep instantly…

…and permenantly.

Slowly they cut him free of the chair and remove it from him, pushing it to the other side of the room after this botched execution. This once living raccoon is photographed once they grab a camera from the equipment room upstairs to prove that he is in fact dead. Not once in the next 15 minutes is the body left unattended just in case he has somehow pulled a trick on them with the sleep darts, but with that much sleeping formula in him no one, no matter how big they are, could survive 27 sleep darts. They wait until a team of morticians comes and collects the soggy body; now that he is dead, they can use him for their purposes. The 6 morticians come and put him into a body bag before placing him onto a stretcher and carry him up the stairs from below ground and through the back corridors of the prison until he goes into a refrigerated truck. 2 morticians stay in the back to carefully preserve the body, removing him from the bag so he can dry out whilst being cooled in order to delay the decomposition of his body.

**Amsterdam, The Netherlands. 3:37pm 30****th**** April 2022.**

Bentley is somewhat enjoying himself.

He now has a dedicated team which are at his subjugation, all of the equipment and materials he needs and all the funds he wants. It may not ever compare to being with his friends, but if this is truly the end he knows that he has to move on just like he tried to do when Sly was stuck in Ancient Egypt. However he is on a very tight leash currently by his bureaucratic overlords in this tumultuous time so that he doesn't try and escape or help his friends out, an electronic bracelet is fixed to his right ankle to track his location. His instructions are broadcast through his computer so he never has to leave his lab ever again.

"We've got a body coming in that we need you to examine." One of these overlords says to Bentley via the computer.

"Why me? Don't you have other forensic scientists that can do that?" Bentley asks.

"It is important that you examine this one." He says.

"When will it arrive?" Bentley asks as he repositions his glasses.

"In about 1 minute." He says. Bentley looks visibly surprised.

"One minute?! I can't prepare for an examination in that amount of time." Bentley complains.

"Just do it." The person on the other side of the screen says before turning it off. Bentley turns to his workers to relay the message.

"Okay, everyone drop what you are doing and set up a dissection table pronto." he commands. The 10 or so scientists quickly gather all of the required tools to examine a body and have them laid out on a sterile carbon fibre tray for him to use. Inn this system, Bentley is the unquestionable leader of the pack despite the fact that every other person in this lab is highly qualified in a variety of fields.

"Two of you go up and get the body because of…" Bentley says as he points to his little bracelet tracking device resting on his ankle.

"Certainly." One replies as they use the van lift to get to the surface and 30 seconds later return with a chilled body wrapped in a black body bag. They push it until it's in front of him them lower it so he can see over it whilst sitting in his wheelchair.

"Okay, what have we got here?" Bentley says to himself, preparing himself for the range of tests they could ask for. The zip barely makes it 20 centimetres down the length of the bag before he can't open it further having spiralled into a state of shock.

"Everybody get back, no one touches this body but me." Bentley says with visible and raw emotion. He can hear everyone take at least one backwards step.

"Everyone go now, somewhere where I can't see you!" He shouts, wanting some private time with the body of his best friend. He waits until all of the scientists have shuffled away quietly into other parts of the lab, leaving him alone.

"What have they done?" He asks slowly whilst suspended in shock to Sly as he undoes the zip further to reveal the full length of his body. It becomes too much as he cries hard, trying to hug the lifeless (and slightly damp) raccoon whilst he rests peacefully on the wheeled stretcher he came in on. Eventually he stops his grief and begins to look at the body for the cause of death, there are no gunshot holes in his body, no bruises apart from the ones on his head. What catches his eyes from behind his glasses are the irregular array of pinpricked holes on his body that had clotted slightly but not fully. There is only one way for Bentley to confirm his suspicions and yet he doesn't want to do it, he needs some blood from Sly. He struggles to even pick up a syringe to do this, not because of the pain it will cause to Sly but to Bentley. It feels like desecration to the turtle in that he has to soil his friend like this, even if it will be unnoticeable to the naked eye. Lightly he rests the end of the needle over the vein on Sly's right arm, takes a deep breath.

"I'm sorry." He mouths to himself, not making a word as he pierces the skin accompanied by a sniffle. He takes the plunger and draws it up to the top to fill the vessels container with dark red blood, not blue which is a common misconception. He makes sure no blood leaks out of the minute hole before transferring the blood into a clear glass vial for testing. When the results become clear, Bentley contemplates the worst. Sly had been killed by an overdose of a combination of analgesics and painkillers, a combination that Bentley had invented. It is the formula for his sleeping darts, one of the first things they forced out of him when they captured him. Indirectly it seems, Bentley killed Sly and the turtle has difficulty in coping with that fact. Suicide crosses his mind again, racked from the emotional toil of losing someone so dear to him.

Once the assistants come out of hiding, further tests reveal that Sly Cooper had suffered minor brain swelling at the rear of his brain and a hairline fracture on the left side of his head. Bentley insisted that they not perform an autopsy, lest they dare go through him first, in order to preserve the shape of the body. Then the question of where to bury him came up from one of his assistants, usually a body would be incinerated and it's ashes collected but they realise their de facto leader wouldn't allow that to happen. Bentley needed more time with him, to say goodbye if that was ever truly possible. So as they worked around him and the body as it rested on the same stretcher into the afternoon and the early evening.

Finally, Bentley decides that he has to put Sly to rest, but the question of where is a whole different matter. The electronic bracelet means he would not see him buried outside of the lab whilst he still wears it, underground Amsterdam is not a fitting place in his opinion to bury him. There is only one place he thinks that would be right to do it, a place he doesn't really want to go to, the place where it all started.

The orphanage.

**The Orphanage, England. 10:57pm, 30****th**** April 2022**

Where the building used to be is now, nothing. An empty field with long grass growing out of it is what he sees when it is illuminated by a powerful LED light from his wheel chair. He isn't wearing his bracelet, it was too easy to trick and take off, as nothing is more important right now than doing this. If he is to be carted of to prison for doing this, so be it; he thinks. Any spot would do he thinks, when he was 8 he didn't think to map out the GPS coordinates of the place in order to know where to bury his future best friend. He wheels the chair against the thick grass with a quickly made hermetically sealed stainless steel coffin being lifted above the vegetation by the long extendable arms protruding from his wheel chair. He lowers it down after going 30 metres into the brush before digging a hole in less than a minute thanks to a plasma beam and a powerful vacuum. The precise rectangular grave cut amongst the grass is where the coffin is lowered into, very slowly. Once the coffin comes to rest, Bentley takes a look at it before marking his GPS position carefully so this burial site is known to those who seek to pay their respects.

Bentley carefully leans over to the pile of dirt beside him and grabs a handful, looking back at the coffin. He struggles to find the perfect word to say goodbye, however, he realises that silence is perfect, just like Sly would be when he was sneaking around, good times he will never have again. He tosses the first handful on the top in a ceremonious fashion before proceeding to cover the coffin with the topsoil that he dug up before. What he leaves behind is almost exactly how he had left it, except for the plants which he tried to stand up but inevitably kept on falling over. He wheels himself over to the vehicle that took him here, feeling another sense of loss at the same time.


	40. Closing In

**Chapter 39 – Closing In**

**CDG Airport, Paris, France. 4:26pm, 30****th**** April 2022.**

Touchdown again, followed by the sudden deceleration and the roar of the 4 jet engines as they engage reverse thrust and the flaps extend fully. They are both more prepared this time to combat whatever threat may appear from inside the airport, knowing that someone must have been sent to collect them from the Interpol agent sent to escort them back. They look outside to see if anyone is waiting for them on the tarmac, but nothing eventuates in their sight as the plane slowly taxis it's way to the appropriate gate. Being in economy class, they have to wait for everyone else to get off before they can move, it gives them slightly more time to finalise the finer points of their plan. The time for being subtle is over in their minds; certain overpowerment is waiting for them inside so they're only option is to walk through the door at the beginning of the foot bridge next to the door of the plane without somehow being spotted.

When it's finally their turn to walk down the aisle of the plane and towards the front, Penelope's main concern is how to act once they make it to the door. Should it be hastily or casual? She thinks to herself as she leads Murray out. They reach the end as the cabin crew supervisor greets them at the end and Penelope darts out via the door, using Murray's girth to block the line of sight. When the supervisor greets the next passenger, Murray slips through the still open door and walks down the stairs quickly to the tarmac under the shadows of the footbridge. Crews are already waiting to unload the plane of it's cargo and refuel it for it's next flight in fluoro orange high visibility jackets. The long train of empty trailers behind the lead car waits for the baggage to be loaded onto them.

"Wait here." Penelope whispers, thinking of a plan. "Once they get the cane out, I'll sneak out and take it, then we escape somewhere and go from there."

Murray gives a thumbs up to the plan as the cargo door for the plane opens and the handlers begin to grab the articles of baggage one by one, beginning with the priority baggage first. They remain silent and stealthy for several minutes as they wait for their case to turn up.

"There." Penelope points out, the black case being buried under other pieces of baggage.

"Stay here." Penelope instructs as she begins to make her way closer to the luggage carts. Once she is the shortest distance possible from cover, she waits for them to turn to grab a bag before dashing as fast as she can from under the foot bridge, performing as slide to stop herself from hitting the end of the train and being heard. She goes prone and crawls underneath the trailers and counts two trailers before reaching the 3rd and correct train, stopping at the point where she saw the case being loaded to. She gets out from underneath the cart to be on the other side of the trailer, barely two metres from where the two handlers walk past with pieces of baggage being taken from the conveyor belt that unloads the plane. Only the end of one side is visible from where she is, it is also the side she begins to slowly pull the case out, trying to preserve the shape of the bags so they don't collapse like a game of Jenga. It takes about 10 valuable seconds for her to pull it out completely, leaving a hole where it once was.

Now it's the job to escape without being spotted, that job becomes a lot harder when the car at the front starts up. It gives her no time to think of how to run, so she places the case less than half way back where it was leaving the top handle still exposed so she can hold onto it as she balances herself using her legs on the side of the cart to clear herself off the ground. From Murray's perspective, seeing the handlers on one side and Penelope on the other, makes him nervous but also prepared to break cover to lend assistance if need be. The car beings to pull away as fast as it can tow a few tonnes of luggage towards the front of the plane meaning it would go under the foot bridge and provide the exit the mouse needs to stay hidden. As the car speeds up, she tenses her right arm holding the case so she can yank it out at the right time. Just before the rectangular shadows of the foot bridge, she pulls as hard as she can on the case to free it again. But this momentum pulls her from the side of the trailer with no room to recover, making her fall off the side and hitting the concrete before sliding 2 metres on her back with the case above her against her chest. Murray slowly moves forwards to help her up but she gets herself up before he can reach her.

"Nice work." Murray congratulates, a bit too loud for Penelope's liking so she quickly holds her index finger in front of her mouth to let him know.

"It's only the start." She says, quickly looking for an escape route. "You know this place better than me, get us out of here where we can't be seen. Over there, away from the terminal." She points across the runway.

"I'd have to find a map, I don't know where all the service tunnels are." Murray explains. "We have to go inside." He instructs, looking at a door underneath the elevated ground floor of the terminal that says 'restricted authorised personnel only'.

"It's locked." Penelope sees as she they walk towards it.

"Stand back Penelope, I've got this." Murray says, lining up the takedown on the steel door.

"Wait, stop!" Penelope instructs, noting the ground crew that are still nearby to the plane, doing refuelling. "It's locked, there has to be another way."

"Then it's not through this door, maybe we try another one." Murray postulates.

"Okay, but let's get inside quickly." Penelope says. "Where is the next nearest one?"

"There's one under every gate." Murray answers.

"They'll be the same, any other entrances?" Penelope asks.

"I don't know." Murray exclaims, hot under pressure.

"Stay in the shadows and keep moving." Penelope says, moving off along the wall looking for a way in. They can't think about who or what may be looking for them, they can only control themselves and their actions. They come across a long section of large slightly rusted drains at the edge of the wall, Penelope looks down into the drain to see if they could use that as an exit route. It's certainly wide enough to fit Murray inside but the more dangerous thing is the depth or rather the fact she doesn't know how deep it goes.

"Help me lift this up." She says, bending down to lift the grate, it's way too heavy for her but when Murray does it; he makes it look like It's made of polystyrene. Penelope takes another look down but can't accurately judge the depth as the drain is not exposed to the sunlight. So to gauge it, she takes out the pins holding her red haired wig and throws one down as well as tossing the wig down as she won't need it anymore; it takes around one second until a miniscule ping is heard from the bottom and after some quick mental arithmetic; she calculates the depth to be around 5 metres.

"We can go down here. The fall won't kill us." She says.

"I'm going first." Murray asserts.

"I'll go." Penelope says.

"But you can't catch me at the bottom." Murray argues. Penelope can't refute that.

"You've got a point; hurry." She instructs as Murray bends down and fits himself through the grate until he is hanging onto the edge. He lets go and lands unexpectedly on a sloped concrete edge before sliding another 3 metres until he reaches the flat surface that is slightly damp.

"I'm down." Murray says, it echoes out of the drain to Penelope. It gives her some relief.

"I'm coming." She warns, proceeding to sit on the edge of the drain before slowly pushing herself off into the darkness with the case held in her right hand. As Murray predicted before, he catches her as he stands on the slope angled at 45 degrees.

"Do you have a torch or a light?" Murray says as she lets her down. She doesn't have a torch, but she does have a stolen mobile phone that she can use. One of the system's functions is to leave the flash for the camera on so it can function as a torch. When it is turned on, the bright white light illuminates the path in front of them. The wide drain narrows significantly until it fits into a large singular concrete pipe of 1.3 metres diameter. Penelope can stand up but she has to lower herself to do so, Murray, on the other hand, has to crawl through the pipe.

"Are you up for this?" Penelope asks, noting Murray's considerable girth.

"I can fit, it's all just internal organs, this can all squeeze through." Murray answers.

"I can't get you out of you get stuck." Penelope warns as she walks into the pipe whilst Murray climbs down and begins to crawl through. Penelope holds the phone in one hand and the case in the other. They move slowly through the pipe that seems to continue on forever in the perpetual darkness, as if they are going aro seems like they are going in circles. They can't turn back now so the only way is forward, no matter if there is no end in sight.

"I'm going to move further ahead to see if I can see a way out." Penelope says. "You can see me using the light."

"I'm getting a bit claustrophobic in here." Murray replies.

"It's okay, I'll be just a little bit further ahead." Penelope replies, moving slowly further in front of Murray.

"Just stay here." Murray asks with a hint of panic and cowering in his voice.

"It's okay, the torch won't go out, the battery is still above 50 percent." Penelope says, hoping to quell Murray's worries.

"No, no, no. Just please, stay with me." Murray says, becoming scared.

"Nothing's going to happen." Penelope repeats.

"When will this end?" Murray asks, futility riddles himself.

"Come on Murray. We can get through this." Penelope says, trying to instill some optimism in Murray.

"Just stay with me, don't run off." Murray pleads like a blubbering baby.

"It's okay, I won't run off. I promise." She says, now turning to face Murray dead on to confront him.

"Promise?" he asks.

"Yes." Penelope says before turning around. In Murray mind, Penelope is being a bit mean in not comforting him more, but then she doesn't know about an incident that happened when he was in the orphanage before Sly came along. Being trapped in a dark cupboard for hours without being able to get out was the result of some childish bullying who decided to gang up on him and put him in there for fun. However, he never fully recovered from that day. Most of that fear is gone, night doesn't scare him, and neither do tight spaces. But this is both, and the fact there is no definite end is even worse than the cupboard doors that couldn't open. Sly would have done it much better he thinks, at least he understands him better with his innate empathy. But when he sees him crawl into tiny ducts and small crevices without hesitation or fear, he wonders how he could truly understand his pain and suffering.

According to the clock on the phone, they have been moving for 13 minutes at a speed of around half a metre per second she calculates; approximately 400 metres covered. From the entrance to the drain system, she thought that in a straight line the distance across the runways was about twice he distance they have covered so far, and even that doesn't guarantee there would be an exit for them there.

"How much further? I can't take this much longer." Murray worries.

"Hang in there, we won't die in here." Penelope replies.

"We're going to die in here." Murray exclaims, it echoes along the pipe until they can't hear it anymore.

"No we are not." Penelope counters.

"Yes we are." Murray argues despairingly.

"Pull it together." Penelope begs. "The quicker we move, the sooner we get out."

"Yeah, but this is infinite, and when you have something that's infinite, there is no end." Murray sobs.

"It's not infinite, Just please hold it together." Penelope begs.

"It's been going on forever." Murray shouts.

"We've been going for 14 minutes." Penelope says, showing him the phone.

"That's wrong!" Murray shouts, becoming angrier and more desperate with each passing second. He tries to vent his anger against the sides of the pipe by hitting it as hard as he can, but the concrete pipe is encased in even more concrete around it so it only hurts his hands more with each blow.

"Stop it, you're hurting yourself." Penelope says, helpless to physically stop him doing it.

"I know!" Murray shouts. "I'm going to do this until I'm dead."

"Stop it, please, it's doing no good." Penelope pleads to him, but the banging becomes louder and more intent with each blow. Penelope is running out of options, nothing it seems will stop him from masochistically injuring himself. They have to keep moving.

"If you don't stop, I'll turn the light off." Penelope warns, trying to snap this childish tantrum out of this hippo in his mid thirties.

"It doesn't matter." Murray yells. "I'm dead anyway."

Penelope turns it off and nothing changes. Murray continues to wail and mope in the pipe with higher intensity that seems unerring.

"Just go, leave me here to die." Murray yells. Penelope considers the option, it would benefit her but it wouldn't do any good for Murray who she would leave stranded underneath an airport.

"Okay then." Penelope says. She begins to walk away, hoping that as she does so, he'll call for her back and that he would finally get himself together so they can continue on together. She walks slower as she gets further away, giving more time to repent and catch up. It never comes. She is some distance away in the total darkness as she moves as fast as she can through the pipe without the need to stay with Murray anymore. About 2 minutes later, she finally sees some natural light at the end of the tunnel, even if it's not very bright due to the time of day.

"I've found the end!" She shouts back down the pipe as she moves forward, hoping Murray will hear her from further back.

"I don't care!" He shouts back.

"I've found the end, you can get out of here." Penelope says, upbeat.

"You're just saying that." Murray shouts back.

"I'm not lying, I've found it." Penelope shouts.

"Just leave me here to die." Murray mopes loudly.

"Sly won't want me to do that." Penelope argues. " He wouldn't do it."

"But he's been caught." Murray shouts.

"Yeah, but he would have escaped, that's what he would do and it's what you need to do if you want to see the outside world again." Penelope says down the pipe, nearing the outside world. "One step at a time."

She reaches the outside, the pipe flows straight into a small creek on the side of a busy road that is opposite the pipe. She waits just inside the pipe for Murray so that onlookers can't see her.

"Are you coming?" She asks, hoping for a positive answer this time.

"Yeah" Murray says reluctantly. Penelope feels so much better. She keeps an eye out of the road for the police if they somehow manage to find them here. To her surprise and shock, a marked police car stops by the road just in front of a line of bushes that block her view to the road. She races to think of whether to flee and leave Murray behind or face certain confrontation between the police. Surely they haven't seen her she thinks, from her vantage point, it doesn't seem to be that they can see her. When they do get out of their car, they walk down past the back of the car and behind the bushes. She infers that there has to be an offending vehicle behind the bushes that they are attending to. She continues to wait for Murray to arrive but the time ticks past and he still hasn't emerged. The police car is still there. When the two officers do return to their vehicle, one of them tunes in on their radio for an incoming report. He turns his head towards the pipe and it's all the reaction that Penelope needs to instantly and instinctively decide to flee. She reaches the edge and sees that the pipe is directly above the creek, so she has to climb onto the top. She does this by swinging the case up onto the top and using her left hand to haul herself up to the top as the police watch her do this and try to get near her. But she has no concern for them as she runs back along the pipe to solid ground and runs around the creek, away from the police.

She knows that what she has done will surely condemn Murray to conviction, but in her opinion, it was better than them both being captured. She hides behind the bushes, out of sight of the two officers who are going down the other side to get her. She can see them through the vegetation as they slowly walk along, trying to surprise her. But she tries to sneak around the other side, aiming for the open police car. When she does reach the car, she doesn't go for the getaway just yet, she hopes to find some sort of weapon to neutralise the two officers so that Murray can get out in time. She climbs into the backseat where equipment is stashed in the back, she looks at handheld weapons like truncheons and ranged weapons like a small Taser. However, when she picks up the truncheon, she hears the officers get into the car and slam the doors shut. She hides behind the passenger seat in the footwell so she is out of sight of the driver. The engine revs up and they pull away, leaving Penelope stowed away inside a police car and Murray somewhere underneath an airport in a pipe.

The police car goes along the motorway in towards Paris without any stops or hitches Penelope silently sits in the back, waiting for them to leave the car. The car eventually stops next to _La Grand Palais _next to the other police vehicles parked there just off the _Champs-Élysées_. When the two officers leave the car and shut the doors, she pokes her head up for the first time to see where they are. She sees them both walking away from the vehicle down the path to patrol the streets. She tries the back door next to her to get out, but it doesn't open from the inside, so she has to climb back to the front seat to let herself out. When she does get out, she has no idea of where to go next. No one to talk to, no one to contact, nowhere to go.


	41. Giving Back

**Chapter 40 – Giving Back**

**Paris, France. 5:36pm, 30****th**** April 2022. **

After wandering the streets, thinking over what she has done for the last half an hour, she receives an unexpected message on the phone she took from the Interpol agent.

_Eurostar, Paris to London. 6:20pm Depart. Hurry._

The message even includes a ticket for her to get on the train sent straight to the phone as a QR code, at least that takes care of the monetary problem. She opens the map on the phone and locates the_ Gare du Nord _to be about 2.5 kilometres away, lucky she has been walking east. She breaks out into a jog along the foot path filled with evening shoppers and diners as she dodges the ever changing puzzle, finding a clear path through the sea of life that crowds itself onto a small section of the road. 15 minutes later she reaches her destination, where it all started for her, feeling out of breath and tired. She walks upstairs to the international terminal and walks up to the scanner and shows the e-ticket to the reader which allows her through into the more difficult section, security and immigration.

"Bonsoir Madmoiselle" The immigration officer greets her from behind the plexiglass window in his booth.

"Hi, I'm in a hurry." Penelope says, fishing out her passport from her pocket to give to the officer.

"You've got another 30 minutes, no rush at all." He says as he compares the passport photo against her face. "Okay, Have a nice journey to _Angleterre." _

She takes her passport back and goes straight past the booth and waits anxiously in line for her turn to pass through the scanner behind people who seem to have their entire lives packaged inside huge designer suitcases. She thinks how she still wasn't caught or held up at the border post, Interpol must not have great speed at limiting peoples access to other countries quickly. The wait is too long, any wait is too long right now in her opinion, she just wants to get through this part and sit inside the lounge. She thinks whether the person who sent this message would be waiting for her inside, could it be more Interpol agents? She wonders. It's not her concern from in here as she walks straight through the metal detector with no alarms and waits for the case to be pelted with X rays that give the false pattern of it's contents. After moving out of this sterile secure area and into the comfort of heavily used couches overlooking the array of platforms inside the grand old station.

She keeps looking at everyone around her for the person who sent this message to her; but when they call this train to board, no one comes to meet her. So she follows the crowd down the stairs and towards her designated carriage near the front which makes her have to walk a few hundred metres to reach it. She sits into her seat on the left side next to the window and places the case in the shelf above, the seat next to her remains empty and continues to be empty as the door shuts and the train begins to roll away into the evening at precisely 6:20pm. It moves slowly at first until it has cleared the city where it reaches 300km/h in some parts. About 40 minutes into her journey, the next message comes through.

_I'll be waiting in London_

The place is not of her concern but it's the person on the other side that she's concerned about. She decides to send a message back to try to ascertain their identity.

_Who am I meeting?_

2 minutes later, a long reply comes back.

_Somehow my identity leaves nothing that you may need. It's irrelevant to some. When we do things that everyone else does, an amount of doubt creeps in._

Penelope is confused at first, what kind of person would send…?

Bentley. He had finally made contact with her, the first in two days since their bust up. She had calmed down significantly since she had her mind focused on other things, but it's still too soon in her opinion.

This kind of puzzle infuriated her when they first worked together, he always liked to give logic puzzles and cryptic puzzles that turned out to be more bouts of affection for her. The face value of the message is meaningless she instantly knows. While it may sound like some really deep and meaningful insight on the outside, she is looking for the pattern buried inside the message. She gets up out of her seat with the phone still in hand to the restaurant car.

"Do you have some paper and a pen?" She asks to the attendant.

"I have a pen but no paper." She replies to her.

"How about the paper for receipts? Can you give me some of that?"

"You'll have to buy something to get one." She responds.

"Please." She asks.

"Sorry, company policy." She replies.

"Fine, can you look at this and see if means anything to you?" Penelope asks as she shows the message to the attendant.

"Let me see." She says as she reads the message in her head. "That's really deep." She comments after finishing reading it. "Sometimes I feel like this company doesn't care about me as a person."

This doesn't satisfy Penelope as she walks straight out of the carriage and back to her seat in frustration. His potential shouldn't be wasted in tiny puzzles like this that make her feel frustrated with herself. She also feels that this is a test of her own intelligence in solving this puzzle in testing times. Nothing seems to jump out at her from the words; that's why she wanted the paper, so she could move them around out of their order. Instead, she now begins to painstakingly copy out the message onto a document that has all of the words listed vertically like an acrostic poem.

_Somehow _

_my _

_identity _

_leaves_

_nothing _

_that _

_you _

_may_

_need. _

_It's _

_irrelevant _

_to _

_some. _

_When _

_we _

_do _

_things _

_that _

_everyone _

_else _

_does, _

_an _

_amount _

_of _

_doubt _

_creeps _

_in._

SMILNTYMN. IITS. WWDTTEED, AAODCI. She writes, listing the first letters of each word in order underneath the message. Apart from the word 'its' nothing else is clearly visible. But in this layout, she recognises a word quickly; not exactly a word, but a name.

**S**MI**L**NT**Y**MN. Sly, with each letter separated by two other letters.

"That's gotta be it." She says quietly to herself, finally seeing the key to this puzzle. She begins to cross out every other letter that doesn't fit in this pattern.

**S**MI**L**NT**Y**MN. **I**IT**S**. WW**D**TT**E**ED, **A**AO**D**CI.

Sly is dead.

After reading the true message, she thinks that perhaps it's was better that she didn't figure it out it's meaning. In the back of her mind, she wonders if it's a rouse, Sly is unkillable in her mind, at least not willingly or easily.

_Proof or you never see me again. _She messages, challenging Bentley to come up with the goods in order to prove that he is not making a desperate and demented plea for them to get back together.

She waits and with every minute, she begins to think that he's lying and that the turtle is just a rotten creature who can't seem to let go of anything.

She is surprised to see a new message come in, with attachments. She opens them up at sees the pictures of Sly resting inside a steel coffin, inside a van with the rear seats put down to fit the steel box, from different angles. Her first reaction is to reject it, thinking that perhaps these images have been edited and doctored, or perhaps that Sly is helping him out now that he had broken out of prison very quickly. She inspects them closely by zooming in on various points to check for typical flaws made in editing. None appear, although that's what would happen if Bentley was making them.

_You can either come with me to lay him to rest or you can ignore me, assuming that I haven't changed._

She thinks about his proposal as the train goes under the channel, meaning she can't respond until the train re-emerges from the underground. Could she really afford give Bentley another chance? When the train's interior explodes with artificial lights of the industry around the railway in the night, she receives another message.

_If it's only for tonight, then so be it._

Funny how like minds think alike. It's what she would have sent had Bentley not interrupted her.

_Only for tonight._

When the train pulls into the station, she thinks she is making a mistake in meeting him so soon when it's not on her terms, but if this true it's not exactly on his terms either. She grabs the case and walks down the stairs and along the platform to the stairs go down to street level amongst the hybrid of old bricks and glass. When she walks down the platform, she sees a security camera following her path from a pole. She stares at it as she walks along, to show Bentley that she knows that he has eyes on. When she does reach the exit, she easily spots the van across the road where Bentley, in turn, spots her. She stops and pauses briefly, a small gasp is visible from Bentley as he realises that she could just simply run away; a cruel rejection of him at the last minute. He exhales a sigh of relief when she makes her way across the street in a break in the traffic. And walks around the car to get in the left hand side door since cars in the UK are right hand drive.

"Just drive." Penelope flatly says, and Bentley obliges as he pulls out of the parking space, using his arms to drive and a set of cranially controlled actuators in front of the pedals, giving him full driving capabilities.

"He told me to give this back." Penelope says, showing the case she holds in front of her. "Guess I was too late." There is a lot of tension in the air between them.

"Is that Sly's old cane or his new one?" Bentley asks.

"His father's." Penelope states. In Bentley's mind, he thinks that if Sly can trust her with his second most prized possession, then maybe he should emulate that trust with her with he ever wants a third bite at the cherry.

"Maybe you should bury it with him?" Penelope wonders out loud.

"Technically, it's not Sly's anymore." Bentley corrects, Penelope remembers that young raccoon trying to take it back off her in France.

"Oh yeah." Penelope exclaims. "Then where is it's owner?"

"Alex? I've tried to find them, but they are off the radar, beyond my or your skills." Bentley says. The fact that Bentley even acknowledged her own talents on a level playing field makes Penelope feel more relaxed.

"Then where is everyone else?" Penelope asks.

"Carmelita is in jail and Joey is participating in a experimental nocebic trial that claims to prevent people from doing crimes." Bentley explains without concern. "It won't work in the long term, no one is that stupid to think a tiny pill could make them change their behaviour."

"Yeah, you say it from the armchair." Penelope rebuts, putting things into perspective.

"What happened with Murray?" Bentley asks. "You went into that drain and he didn't come out with you."

"You've been tracking me the whole time?" She asks, slightly irately.

"Only since you got off the plane back into Paris, you two were the only one's left." Bentley explains.

"Then what about you?" She asks.

"I'm, I'm doing what you wanted me to do." He says struggles to say, hoping that it would make her proud. "Working for government R&D organisations and militaries."

"How?" She asks in surprise.

"When they captured me, they realised that I could be of use to them so they made a deal with me and like that, I get to keep the lab and I even have a team of assistants working for me." Bentley says. "There's always room for more."

An advance so quickly? It puts Penelope on the spot.

"Am I too soon?" Bentley asks.

"I don't know. It's just, I don't know but, you did that for me?" Penelope asks, just to confirm it to herself.

"I guess so, but then again, it was either that or prison." Bentley replies.

Bentley drives out of London, out to the exact spot where the orphanage used to be and does the burial while Penelope watches from inside the van from the side of the road. She has her own grief, but not enough to make it show visibly. When Bentley returns back to the van, he is in no state of mood to drive or even think of anything else. So Penelope takes the wheel and drives around the B roads of rural England so that Bentley can calm down. She waits until he has stopped making noises that resemble grief before talking again.

"Where do we go next?" Penelope asks.

"I have to go back to the lab before they find I've escaped." Bentley says, but he realises she said 'we' instead of 'you', it temporarily replaces his second feeling of loss.

"We? You mean…" Bentley says, on the verge of suddenly being happy again.

"No, did I say that? A slip of the tongue." She says, even though she knows that she has crushed him, it's visible all over him as she says it.

"I'm sorry." She apologises. "I'll just drop myself off at the nearest town."

Bentley thought it was rectified and no he is in no state to talk about anything, almost as grief stricken as he was with losing Sly. Penelope didn't want it to happen like this, she knows that he was a complete prick to her but to rejected like this she feels is too brutal for him to stomach.

"But what should we do with the cane?" Bentley asks through the pang of rejection.

"I'll find them, and I'll give it back." Penelope asserts.

"But, they're gone. I mean…" Bentley tries to explain.

"I don't care if I don't even know what they look like, I'll find him and give it back, otherwise he'll remember me as being that mouse who took his favourite possession away." Penelope explains.

"I guess so." Bentley agrees. But Bentley has an Idea and gets straight onto the phone.

"Hey, get me adoption records; lists, orphanage enrolments; anything with the last name Cooper, first name Alex or Erin." Bentley instructs back to his 'assistants' at the lab.

"Don't ask why, just do it." Bentley urges them. He waits for them to perform this task.

"Oh, send them all to me." Bentley instructs. "Bye."

About 2 minutes later, electronic copies of all the records containing an Alex Cooper and Erin Cooper are sent. Most of them are from others, who happen to share the same name, but were adopted or put in orphanages many years before today. There are 4 possible locations that they could be sent to; but when Bentley looks at them, he has a suspicion of which one it must be.

"This one." He points to on his phone. "Central London."

"I guess that's where I have to go." Penelope figures out.

"It's where I have to go to get to the train as well." Bentley says.

"Then I guess I have to be with you more two more hours." Penelope says.

"Is that a good thing?" Bentley asks.

"Nope, but it's not a bad thing either." Penelope says. Bentley feels more comfortable knowing that she doesn't deplore him with a vengeance. A new day ticks over, the first of May, as they drive back into London in the early hours. They don't speak to each other for much along the return route, there's nothing to talk about at this early hour other than the task at hand.

**Kensington, London, England. 12:43am, 1****st**** May 2022. **

When they arrive at the address, in this row of white attached houses with old cornice fittings and black steel picket fences, they at least know that someone is there, the lights are still on even at this late hour that sneak past fully drawn curtains.

"I guess I'm going then." Bentley says as Penelope gets out of the car to deliver the case.

"No." By saying this, she thinks she is making a big mistake but, she wants him to just stay there, in case something goes wrong. "Stay, just until it's done."

Bentley stops shuffling across the seat as he watches her go around the front of the van and up the two stone paved steps to the front door. Penelope presses the front door bell and she waits as she hears the tired and heavy foot steps on floor boards approach the front door.

"Who are you? Trying to disturb me?" the owner responds in an English accent.

"I'm sorry, but I have to give this back, to Alex." Penelope says through the front door.

"I don't know what you are talking about." He says. "Now go before I call the police."

"I knew Sly Cooper." Penelope says, trying to coax him out. "And I know you have his kids."

The door opens fractionally and only a portion of the walrus' face can be seen with one perfect gleaming tusk showing.

"You did?" He asks, surprised.

"I need to give this back to Alex. I kinda borrowed it from him and I need to give it back." Penelope explains.

"Well, they're asleep so you can give this to me and I'll give it to him in the morning." He offers.

"If they are anything like Sly, chances are they're listening to us right now." Penelope explains, she half wonders if he actually knows what he has fully gotten himself into.

"Why don't you come in?" He offers, opening the door fully to reveal the almost perfectly clean and modern interior of the house and the pyjamas he is wearing. She goes inside, leaving Bentley isolated outside.

"This, is, this is nice." She comments at the quality of the furnishings, all of this must have cost a fortune.

"Why thank you." He says, leading her up the stairs quietly and towards the correct room.

"This is where they are, or at least, hope they are." He jokes.

Penelope slowly turns the handle to open the door, revealing the totally silent and quiet room with a double bed they are sharing. It looks like this is a guest bedroom that is lightly used at best. She immediately sees two similar cases to the one she is holding placed by the wall next to the door. She tries to sneak in slowly to come up beside Alex who is fast asleep, or that's what it looks like.

"Is that?" Alex asks, stationary but wide awake in his bed facing Penelope.

"I said I'd bring it back." Penelope reassures him. Alex doesn't respond to Penelope keeping her promise as he didn't think she would bring it back considering all of the things they have been through.

"Can you open it?" Alex asks.

"I thought you knew what it was." Penelope replies.

"2-5-3-9 and 3-7-4-6" Erin says, not facing them but facing the other way in her bed, listening in on the conversation.

"Oh yeah." Alex remembers, but by the time Alex has said this, the mouse has opened it to reveal the gleaming antique relic of the past. Alex reaches out to grasp it and hold it to his body, feeling it as if he had never felt it's touch in ages.

"It's yours now, your dad won't be needing it anymore." Penelope says as she places the open case beside Alex's side of the bed before walking out of the bedroom and shutting it behind them.

"I'm sorry I got you up at this hour." Penelope apologises.

"No worries, I was just starting to nod off myself and I needed this kick to stay up." He explains. "We haven't formally met, what's your name?"

"Penelope." She replies.

"Just Penelope?" He asks.

"Yep." She replies, she isn't really a Cooper in her opinion.

"Tim, Tim McSweeny." The walrus replies.

"I know." She says as she walks down the stairs to the front door.

"Good night Penelope." Tim says as she walks out of the door before she shuts it. When she walks outside, the van isn't there anymore. Bentley had moved on just like she hoped he would. Now it was just her, out of all of this gang, she was the one to survive it all and the only one to be free, whatever that meant. She wonders what to do next; continuing to evade the authorities is on her mind, but with only a forged passport, a stolen mobile phone and the clothes on her back, the odds are certainly against her.

But she'll figure something out; she is one sixteenth Cooper after all.

* * *

**A/N (14th January 2014): That's the end of the main story, the next chapter will be an epilogue explaining what happens to the characters in the near future. There will also be an afterword/notes where I explain some of the choices in scenes, characters and other references. Feel free to PM me if you want anything explained and I'll put it in the afterword/notes.**


	42. Epilogue - Chasing Tails

**Epilogue – Chasing Tails**

_Chief Barkley finally retired for the second time after achieving his goal of capturing Sly Cooper, not before receiving more accolades and praise from officials for his service to law and order. He never once considered the possibility of returning back again, he had no more desire to work and instead enjoyed his retirement which included many rounds of golf._

_The weasel continued to operate as an Interpol agent for the next few weeks before finally quitting in order to become a private investigator, wanting to work for himself rather than be tethered down by bureaucratic overlords. It quickly became a much more profitable business for himself as well as a much more efficient process than the one he encountered at Interpol._

_Bentley continued to work inside his special laboratory with his assistants, being hired by whoever that could get a hold of him. He worked on various top secret projects ranging from satellites to mass surveillance and big data, receiving commendations for his overlords unofficially as technically he is not allowed to earn them since he is not free. He wondered of Penelope every now and then, but as the number of projects grew, inversely did his feelings for her as time passed._

_Penelope is still on the run and was never found by police or indeed any other law enforcement agency. She never contacted anyone who she knew prevoiusly and always made sure to cover her tracks, making her untraceable. She made money as an underground courier, flying packages of varying types to places for sums of money she demanded to only be in unmarked note bills. Her current location is unknown._

_Murray was coerced out of the underground pipe system by the airport fire brigade with the aid of a tub of lube and an unintentional mention of the word 'bacon'. He was promptly arrested for aiding a fugitive and other assault and murder related offences including the murders of 3 police officers in Chile. He is serving 5 life sentences behind bars in Heathrow prison, where he instantly made friends with Jim McSweeny as they compared tales of destruction and the abilities of the gangs that they worked with._

_Carmelita Fox continued her stay in prison in the slopes of Austria before the facility was shut down due to 'fundamental basic rights' concerns from activists after documents were leaked about several above maximum security prisons worldwide. She was transferred to Germany, and given Sly Cooper's same cell that he used for one night before his death just to torment her. However, this was her one consolation amongst all of the criminals that remember her name and reputation, such as the Panda King, The Grizz and Raleigh amongst others, who wanted to make sure she remembered it well. _

_Joey never committed another crime of theft after taking that pill, instead he lived the civilian life with esteem as society would have wanted him to. The program was a rampant success with over 97% of test subjects never committing their punished crime over the next 10 years._

_Matt's four older brother's hardly ventured out of the apartment after that night even into their mid to late twenties they were still playing video games on a 105 inch TV. With the development and expansion of delivery systems, everything that they needed was delivered; Including the proceeds a small time pot store they ran online in the dark corner of the Internet. This led to them being raided by police and charged with sale of illicit substances which gave them a 5 year sentence each and also resulted in what was left of their trust fund being seized and frozen. The police however never found the pirated media hard drives. _

_Jeremy was given a formal warning for his kidnapping and attempted assault before being placed in an orphanage on the outskirts of Paris after his funds were frozen and apartment sold off. He continued his newfound spree of evil, forming a gang of youths with similar desires of crime which included vandalism and petty holdups at first, before tackling more ambitious and profitable tasks such a blackmail and extortion as well as contracts given by external employers which they continue to run out of the orphanage._

_Matt himself did not follow in his brothers footsteps and continued to go school where he absolutely killed it, going from strength to strength except in the physical education department, where he was average. He worked insanely hard and tried to get out of the apartment as much as possible by studying at school or trying to improve his fitness by jogging so that he wouldn't have to be exposed to the tireless rants and load simulated gunfire. Once he got into his teen years, he kept on doing various part time jobs so he could save enough money to move out once he went to university. He also kept trying to find where Alex and Erin had gone, but he never found anything, nor did he receive any contact from them. He still tries to find them every now and then, not giving up hope that they must be out there somewhere._

_Alex and Erin Cooper continued to live at Dr. Tim Mcsweeny in London and were sent to the local private school thanks to Tim's considerable funds he had from his well paid job of being a doctor in various areas. Erin was a more model student compared to Alex, if that could be said about them._

_Alex became more anxious to get out into the field and practice the things that have been passed onto him via the pages of the Thievius Raccoonus and things that he figured out himself. School became increasingly more irrelevant to him as he got even more restless to get out into the open world and break free of the walls of the classroom. He was very vocal about this at home as well to his group of deviants who had the same ideas about school but not the same strict moral code as he did. School counsellors tried to figure why this was so but Alex never gave anything away, regardless of their assurances that everything would be confidential. Out on the town or at school, this group of 'friends' tried to manipulate his view of thinking by spinning the story around certain 'tasks' they wanted to give to him that were impossible for themselves. He wanted to do every single one that he would allow himself to do, not only to improve himself but also to prove he was the best which was where he wanted to be. It worked briefly before Alex found out what the actual consequences of his actions were when his own group ratted him out before being expelled despite his protests at the age of 16. The young raccoon then spent the next two years going solo in London and occasionally in Europe if he could afford it. Recently, amongst the underground criminal world, the rumours of the next Cooper being in action were gathering pace due to the name's reputation, so they tried to locate the new Cooper for his services. _

_Erin meanwhile stayed in school where she got recognised very quickly by teachers for her intellect. Amongst her year group, she was one of the smartest but she was not without serious competition from other students who battled it out in every test for the best score. She wasn't popular in primary school and fared not much better as she got older due to having trouble making new friends that didn't have the same intelligence. This meant at school she was generally shunned unless someone was desperate for some completed homework, which she always refused to do. Outside of school, she could not help but wonder but what exactly her brother was doing whenever he wasn't lounging around in the house. It's not like that she was worried, but she was concerned that he would take unnecessary and incredibly big risks to achieve his dream, only to fall at the end. Because of what she had seen when she was younger, she knows the fall would be big. She became distracted to some extent about it that it clouded her mind somewhat, but it didn't stop her from achieving great grades at the end._


End file.
